


No Escape

by P_Artsypants



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alien Abduction, Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Eventual Romance, F/M, Foreign Language, Prison, Psychological Torture, Science Fiction, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 22:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16585073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P_Artsypants/pseuds/P_Artsypants
Summary: Three years ago, Starfire escaped an Alien race called the Gordanians, to arrive on Earth. They're back, and ready to put Starfire back where she belongs, behind reinforced Titanium bars. Robin's not about to let her go...if only he hadn't got captured first. How does it feel to be the alien, Robin?





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> This is an older story I posted originally on FF.

I stared at Starfire. If you knew me well, you would know that that wasn't an uncommon experience. Can you blame me? She was beautiful; tan skin, red rose hair, and glowing green eyes that could bore a hole into your head. Literally. Not every guy could say his best friend could shoot lasers out of her eyes. She had many other wonderful traits as well, such as super strength and utilizing concentrated sunlight from her hands. Did I mention she could fly? I NEVER figured out how she did that. But then again, I didn't think about it much. She wasn't from around here, or anywhere remotely close. The planet Tamaran was in the Vegan system...her home planet. Yeah.

We were in a street fight. Cyborg had been teaching the art of intimidation to her. While just screaming something in Tamaranian did the job just fine, Cy wanted to see if the effect still worked if the threats were intelligible. For all we knew, she could be yelling, "I love bunnies and unicorns," and we would never know.

In this situation, she had a thug by the collar and was about to deliver the finishing blow when she yelled, "I AM GOING TO SUBSTRATE YOUR ENZYME!"

The thug's terror subsided into confusion before his lights went out.

"That was not the correct protocol for a 'threat', was it friend Cyborg?" she asked after the clean up.

"No…not exactly."

"Oh, I feel like I will never get the earthen slang!" She was right to a point; when she was sick she'd say she was 'under a cloud'. When tired, she became 'a shrub'. Fortunately, most of the town knew she was 'visiting' and they expected her to be odd. The restaurants knew that she liked to drink mustard with her marshmallow fluff and oyster sandwiches. The video store was used to her coming in and renting 'The Wonderful World of Fungus', since it was her favorite film. The guys downtown flirted with her relentlessly and she was always confused about what they were saying. In fact, when I told her they were hitting on her, she claimed that they were being very nice and not violent.

"Look Starfire, you've been on Earth for three years, don't you think you should, like, know this stuff by now?" Cy said as he drove us home.

"I have learned much since I first came! As in the VCR only plays the tapes that you put in it, and you will break it if you put something else in. Or that food has gone bad when it becomes fuzzy, it is not evolving! Please friends, you must be patient with me. On Tamaran, you would be more confused than I am here."

"We aren't mad or anything Star," I tried to convince her. "We're simply trying to understand why it's hard for you."

"In my language, there are no euphemisms. You say exactly what you mean. And a lot of your words we do not have words for."

"Like 'nice'?"

"Yes, precisely."

She had definitely changed since she had been here. Before things were settled, she was very quiet and on guard, she didn't trust me, not even when I let her stay at my apartment. She didn't smile much either. Late at night, I would hear her scream in fear of something, but she would never talk about it. As time passed, she seemed to open up more about things that bothered her. She started to ask me questions about earth, to try to understand. She wanted to call our world her home. Eventually she did. Only, I didn't realize how little of a home she'd had in the past.

I was her 'go to' guy. Whenever she had a question, I was the one to answer it, no matter how extremely awkward it might be. I didn't mind of course, I considered her my best friend, and I would have done anything to make her happy. Since she had been on earth for a while, it was not hard to make her happy. She found joy in the simplest things, such as birds chirping outside the window or flowers blooming by the side of the road. She was easily frightened, not fear stricken, but that cute sort of 'hold me, I'm scared,' sort of fright. She hated thunderstorms. Apparently, they didn't have rain on Tamaran, and the thunder and lightning reminded her of explosions. When we watched a scary movie, she would grip my arm or hide her face in my shoulder. Just your typical girl.

Gone away was the furiousness and anger that fueled her when she'd first arrived. Now she was a walking light bulb, encouraging and uplifting everyone on the team. I almost only saw her serious when we got in fights. Raven got irritated by how sickening sweet she was. In general, she was an all around, polite, good-natured alien. She was even good for ballads and poems. Once she recited 'The Poem of Absolute Friendship' to me. All six thousand verses. Yay.

When we arrived back at the tower, Star was quick to disappear. I couldn't stand seeing her like this, so I went to find her. She was in her usual place, the roof. She liked to look at the sky, claiming it made her feel closer to home. I opened the door to the roof where she sat on the edge with her feet dangling off the side. I approached her from behind.

"Hey Star, are you okay?"

"Am I stupid, Robin?" she asked bluntly.

"No…I don't think so. You've never gone to school before and yet somehow you managed to come up with 'substrate your enzyme'. That's pretty smart to me."

"But I cannot adapt to earth! I do not even speak correctly!"

"You speak more correctly then any of us do. It's a lost art form, really."

"Sometimes I feel like I do not belong here."

We had had this conversation before, but it seemed like she never really clung to what I said. Maybe she didn't believe it, or maybe I was proven wrong. "Star, you belong here just like the rest of us."

"But Blackfire adapted so much faster than me! She knew everything!"

"Well, Blackfire had the wrong motives for being here. And aren't you glad that you were having trouble blending in? She couldn't take your place. You're too unique, too special."

"But that does not ease my mind. I have lived here with everyone and I have not changed since I got here. I am still a strange little alien." A sad tear rolled down her cheek.

"We consider you a part of our family. Even the town accepts you! That's huge!"

"But we live in California, they accept everyone."

"True."

"Sometimes…I think about going back to Tamaran…but I'm afraid."

"You're a part of our community, if you left…there would be a lot of people who would miss you."

"Would you miss me?" She looked at me intensely.

"More than you could imagine." I smiled and rested a hand on her shoulder.

She blushed. Another thing that I had not seen from her at the beginning. We sat in silence for a long while, just reveling in each other's company. I looked to her from behind my mask. Her face still looked sad. Summoning all the subtlety I had, I rest my hand on top of hers, and squeezed. She wiggled her fingers will a tiny smile.

Suddenly, a ship vaporized in front of us. A scanner lowered from the ship and used a beam to examine the area. We were frozen in place. " _Hassa dress bo fass don loss_ ," a voice said from inside.

"The Gordanians!" Star shouted as she jumped off the roof.

"Wait!" I shouted as I jumped after her. I was caught, however, by a metallic tentacle wrapping around my chest.

Starfire halted her flight. "Robin!"

I knew how much she hated these creatures. She had a running grudge against them. "Get out of here! Don't let them catch you!"

"I will not let them take you instead!" she yelled back, her eyes beginning to glow. But before she could get to me, an even bigger tentacle wrapped around her. How anticlimactic.

"STARFIRE!" I shouted.

She squirmed relentlessly, kicking her legs and thrashing about. But the tentacle would not move. "LET ME GO!  **TORSE JZORK HUM**!" Uh oh, she was using her Tamaranian again.

The ship started to pull us inside and she was panicking. "I don't want to go back there Robin! Help me!"

"Star, please! It's alright! I'm here!"

"No no no…they're going to…I cannot…oh Robin!"

The ship doors shut heavily behind us.

The inside was illuminated by an eerie red light. Star's hair looked like fire as it fell into her face. She was unresponsive and I wondered if she had been knocked out. Giant lizard like men surrounded us and the tentacles loosened. Immediately, they took my utility belt off and carried it away. So much for my idea of escape. But I wasn't going to give up so easily. I shot my fist out only to hit what felt like a rock. One of them grabbed my arm, but I wrenched it free. There really was no sense in me fighting back, they surrounded me, and soon they had beaten the motivation out of me. Starfire was silent and still.

I was cuffed. They walked me down the dimly lit hallway of the ship. Starfire was close behind me. Double thick, arm length cuffs adorned her writs. Much like when we'd first met. They had put a pair of sunglasses on her, I was unsure why, and a Tamaranian headpiece much like the one she wore previously. After making many turns, our grizzly capturers stopped us at a stall with a hose hanging from the ceiling.

One of the guards removed my cuffs. " _Pssa fress rets fruss_ ," he spoke in his snake like tongue.

"He wishes you to remove your clothes," Star translated, her voice quiet.

I did as told, not wanting to argue with the reptilian. I deposited my gloves, cape, tunic, boots and tights in a heap on the floor. They were gathered and carried away. Soon, I was left only in the shorts I wear under my uniform and my mask.

" _Wess deas rets fruss_ ," he spoke.

"All your clothes..." Starfire said, looking away.

Again, I did as commanded. Reluctantly, I peeled off my mask. My identity was still safe, since the Gordanians wouldn't recognize me. Well, I hoped. He pointed to the stall and I figured he wanted me to stand under it. A few steps and I was under the faucet. What would come out? Water? Acid? I wasn't sure, but I hoped it didn't hurt.

It did.

Some hot black liquid came out fast. It smelled like smoke and irritated my eyes. I just winced as the foul liquid covered my skin and crawled into my cuts. Finally, he turned it off and beckoned me to step out. I was greeted with a cloud of neon green powder. I figured it was some sort of Alien delousing powder. They handed me a small towel to dry off and then re-cuffed me.

Star soon followed suit, stripping bare. I kept my gaze at her tiny feet. They raised their weapons as she moved. Keeping their eyes on her carefully. One guard shoved her, and I reacted, but was held back. She stood complacent under the stream as I studied the area around the cell, trying my best to avoid the Tamaranian beauty. She came up to stand beside me and the guards handed her a uniform.

They had a small discussion about me as they re-cuffed her.

" _Seess has goss resst thross ness?_ "

" _Wef gress bus gret doss_."

" _Fugers gets...lobs streckers_."

" **GURB!** " Star spat out, finally looking lively. " **Boo von hur wekle** ," she spoke in Tamaranian.

The guards all seemed to laugh at what she had said and then shoved a matching uniform into my hands. I had a small inkling that she had just saved my life. But I pushed it out of my mind as a sharp blade pressed into my back.

" _Fossss..._ " he hissed. Walk? Sure, let's guess that's what he said. I went forward, the blade being my guide.

I finally had an idea what Starfire felt like on Earth. Maybe not exactly, because I had her with me to translate. But I was honestly scared. Who wouldn't be? Trapped on an alien war ship, not knowing what was going to happen, being led down into the bowels of the ship...most likely for my doom. I held my breath in anxiety. I wasn't the only one afraid, I could feel Starfire's eyes boring holes into the back of my head.

We passed cells of other monsters, most of them were bigger than me...by a lot. I wondered...was I the only human on board?

Eventually, we reached a door where a guard punched in a complex code. The bulky door opened. It looked to be made out of an extremely dense metal, not to mention how deep it was.

" _Truss drev frucss hess nessba rrreesahja_ ," the guard spoke. Star turned and looked in fury, but said nothing. The guard slowly backed away from her. He coughed. " _weress_."

"Get dressed," she commanded as she began putting on her uniform.

I scrambled with the thing, unused to the metallic sheets. It was almost exactly like the uniform she was wearing when she came to earth. Then again, she had just escaped the Gordanians...I figured the outfit was traditional Tamaranian prison clothing. I just hoped it fit, since I was smaller than a Tamaranian.

Luckily it did.

"I am sorry," she finally spoke as she approached me. I was fumbling with the torque as she took it out of my hands and adjusted it.

"What for?"

"To keep you safe...I told them you were my pet."

I smiled reassuringly. "I don't care, if it keeps me safe. Thanks."

She smiled back.

"Why did you try to save me? You knew they were going to capture you."

"You are my dearest friend. I know the Gordanians. You do not. I did not wish you to have the same experience I already have had."

"Well, thank you for that."

Another of the staff came into the room with a rolled up bundle and a chain. He dropped the bundle on the floor and came to me. " _Squass het rekess ness dres Troq gropess_."

Starfire growled.

They came up on both sides of her and walked her back to the wall of the cell. A large contraption sat waiting. She took a seat on a white chair sticking out. Her cuffs separated and were magnetized to the sides of it. Like a giant jaw, the top and bottom came together and sealed her inside, only letting her face and torso move freely. While they did this, they hooked a chain to the back of my torque and connected it to the wall. Showed how much they really weren't afraid of me.

The bundle they had brought was a bed. To my joy, it was large, because I was small compared to most of the prisoners. Thank the Lord for interplanetary prison regulations!

"Star?" I asked.

"Please Robin, go to sleep. I am fine. This is how I sleep. It has been a long day, we will do the talking in the morning." It was so odd to hear her take a commanding tone with me. But then again, this was her turf, and I was the alien.

And so I laid down, ready to spend my first sleepless night as a prisoner.


	2. Poison

My opinion of the Gordanians was biased. Starfire was held captive and then escaped, only to be captured again. Everything that I had ever known about them was from her mouth. Now that I was on board, I learned one very important thing.

Starfire wasn't a liar.

I had been woken up twice the night before by the door opening. Each time, guards came in with strange poles and approached her. At the sound of electric currents, I sat up quickly.

"Star?" I questioned.

"Go to sleep. Pretend you are not here. It is safer that way." I heard a zap and she elicited a shriek. I jumped to my feet and threw myself in front of her. That was as far as my chain would allow.

" _Wasst iss ress dron do ka luss? Makka ju nass de fay_!"

"He is ordering you to move, Robin…Or else he will inflict upon you the same damage he has caused me."

"I'm not moving!" I said, undaunted. "We're in this together Star, I'm not letting them hurt you. I'll die first."

"Please do not. I will be very lonely."

" _Makka ju nass de fay_!"

Starfire replied for me, " **Boo douga stug…** "

I braced myself for the shock, but none came. Instead, the lizards stepped back in irritation.

" _Forgi tess mon wess gruss Troq_." And they left, locking the door behind them.

They had used the word Troq. That was something that I had learned about a year ago when another alien came to town. We'd thought he was honorable like Star, and we trusted him. We didn't realize he was a racist pig and the nickname he had given her was derogatory. She didn't mention anything about it until Cyborg called her 'Troq' while they were alone. She then explained to him that the term meant 'nothing', as in Val-Yor was calling her 'nothing, worthless'. It was an interplanetary term and apparently the Gordanians knew it well.

"What did they say when they left?" I asked.

"You do not want to know."

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked. Did they call me a Troq?"

"No…he said…you were less than a Troq…"

I laughed. "And I'm supposed to feel insulted? He's a giant lizard. He can't even speak proper English! Unlike a certain alien I know." I looked at her slyly. Her lips turned slightly. "Look, if I'm not worthy of being electrocuted, then so be it. I'll just stay here." I took a seat in front of her, crossing my arms.

"You do not have to do that."

"But I'm going to." She didn't argue with me after that. Not much time later, the guards came in again, muttered something angrily, and left.

Morning rolled around, along with the promise of some sort of food. And it was just as well, neither of us had eaten since lunch yesterday. Soon, I heard the sound of the tumblers rolling in the door before two guards came in. One armed with a weapon, the other with a tray of heaping food. Suddenly, prison life was looking up.

The guard dropped the food into my hands and said very gruffly, " _Yet grops tee dass mein fass._ " He snarled and then left with the other guard.

"Translation?"

"They will not release me from my bindings, so you will have to feed me." I looked at the heaping plate and my stomach growled. "But please eat first, I have nine stomachs and will finish whatever you do not eat."

The aroma of garlic floated up to my nose. And here I thought they were going to serve us bread and water! I thanked her and ate my fill quickly so she could eat. I held up the plate, getting a morsel on the utensil for her, when her three foot long purple tongue shot out and collected food from the plate.

"GAH! Don't do that!" I almost had a heart attack.

She giggled. "Sorry, but I do not need to act like a human on a Gordanian ship, do I?"

She had a very good point and soon the plate was cleaned. The guard returned to collect it and check on us. They were kind enough to leave a large bucket in the corner for me. At least they didn't expect me to be paper trained.

About an hour later, the food I had eaten hit my stomach and I felt sick. Sicker than I had been in a long time. I blamed it on eating too fast and laid on my mattress. Unfortunately for me, they skipped lunch and I laid in pain until dinner. Starfire was concerned, I could tell, but she wasn't sure what to do. She didn't have any freedom  _to_  do anything.

"Would it ease you if I sang 'The Ballad of Relief'?"

"As much as I  _love_  your singing…I don't think that would help me. Sorry." Tamaranian songs were pretty if you looked at them the right way. If you liked out of tune opera at ear splitting levels, then it sounded wonderful. "Don't you have any stories you could tell me?"

"Our people only tell stories of our victories in war."

"And they tell these to children going to bed?"

"Yes."

I muttered a curse and then clenched my teeth as a pain shot up through my stomach.

The guard came once again, the same heavenly garlic aroma coming from the food. Even though I didn't want to, I knew if I didn't eat anything, I'd be hungry until morning. I ate slowly and carefully this time, and not so much. Star finished it off, once again.

When the guard came to collect the plate, he gave us instructions for the night. Something to the effect of no loud noises or there would be consequences. I wasn't about to scream bloody murder, that was for sure.

Hours into the night I hadn't slept a wink. I had such a gut wrenching feeling, I was having a hard time not vomiting the little food my stomach held. It didn't help that I was shaking beyond my control. What a fine time to be sick! I wrapped the blanket I had been equipped with tightly around me, then pulled my knees to my chest and rocked on my heels.

"Robin? May I be assistance to you?" I must have woken her up with my groaning.

"Unless you have Tums, probably not. Just go back to sleep."

There was a long silence while I grit my teeth in pain.

"Blackfire was born without the ability to fly," she spoke solemnly. I looked at her in question, wondering what this change in topic had to do with our situation. But I didn't say anything. "As the eldest in the royal family, they stripped her right to the crown and gave it to me instead. It did not come as an honor though…I was a token of my father's power. I did not know it, but my sister formed a deep hate for me and plotted against me."

I blinked. She was talking about the past! She had never spoken of it before! In fact, besides me, she was the only one who hadn't. We figured that she just didn't have a very interesting past, so she never felt like she needed to say anything about it. But, by what she was saying now…

"My little brother, Ryand'r, was sent away somewhere when he was little. To stay safe from my sister, lest something happen to me."

"You have a brother?"

"Maybe…I have not seen him since he left us. I stayed home to fulfill my duty set by my father."

"Like what?"

"I was married twice before I came to earth."

I felt like I had been punched.

"They were strictly political. You would hardly call them marriages. That is why I did not care that I was getting married again."

I shuddered as I thought about the blackmailed marriage that Blackfire tried to set her up with. The muck monster from…what was it called? Dredthax Four? Well, the slime ball Glirdelscletch.

"They were both before I was sold into slavery...the first was a general when I was five...he died a month later in battle. The other was a young prince. He was nice, but was assassinated two months later."

I just stared at her in shock.

"I did not love them. I was only obeying the orders of my father."

"How far apart were these?"

"A couple of days."

"You're trying to tell me that your first husband died in battle and then a few days later...you got married again."

"Yes."

I tried to wrap my head around this new information, but she continued her story. At first my mind screamed, "There's more?!" But I listened patiently.

"After I became a widow for the second time, Blackfire, well actually, her birth name was Komand'r, we were sent to the Warlords of Okaara to train for battle. There, I found out my sister had betrayed me…my planet as well. She had told the Gordanians our weaknesses and had joined their ranks to destroy my world. To save what little home was left after a long battle, my father sold me into slavery for my sister. Both he and my mother died not long after that. I served her for six years."

"And you acted so kind to her when she came here two years ago…"

"I thought she had changed…How foolish I was." She sighed. "The Citadel, where we resided during this period, was attacked and we were abducted by the Psions."

I realized that my pain had subsided, since I was so focused on what she was saying. "The Psions?"

"An elite race of high intelligent and curious beings. But they have no scruples, so their methods of experimentation were not limited by a guilty conscience." She became quiet, and then spoke softly. "The days and nights melted together, and I became so afraid. I had never felt that much fear before in my life. I cannot tell you the things they did to me. You would be repulsed."

I was about to tell her that I would never be repulsed by her, when she continued.

"They kept us for three years, during which, I gained many of the abilities I have now."

"Really?"

"Yes, my people collect our energy by converting ultraviolet light from the sun into glucose. This also reduces the damage we could receive from radiation. The Psions knew this, but wanted to test how much ultraviolet light we could absorb, so they pumped Koma and I full with concentrated rays. So much in fact, that we were able to release the light through our hands and eyes. This is a trait specific to only my sister and I."

To say I was interested was an understatement. She had me completely captivated, I was learning so much about her that I hadn't known before.

"I escaped using my new found abilities, and against my better judgment, released my sister as well. We went our separate ways after that, and I was captured by this ship. By the way they recognized me so quickly, they had been waiting to get me back." She got a small, sad smile. "So does that give a little more perspective on me?"

I just gaped at her for a long while. "I am so sorry…I didn't realize…none of us did…Thank you for telling me, Star…"

"My birth name is Koriand'r."

"Oh, uh…then thanks Kori." Suddenly, I felt like the biggest jerk in the world. When we'd first met Blackfire, I had offered her a place on our team without even thinking about how Star would have felt.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Much better really, thanks." I smiled a bit.

She smiled in return.

I stood up and walked towards her. "I guess it's only fair to tell you that my birth name, my real name is Richard. Richard Grayson. Dick for short."

"Oh Robin, you do not have to tell me this, it is your secret!" She wasn't looking directly at me, but off to the side of my face.

I had a guess why. "What colour are my eyes?" I asked.

"I do not know, I have not looked. You were forced to take off your mask and it was not my right to look."

"But you can. I have no problem with it."

"I would feel too guilty." She shook her head.

"Suit yourself." I shrugged and went back to bed.

The morning came around and the guard came in to wake us up. I was still in minor pain, and sleep had clouded my mind. " _Dray shaw sess den cress_." He said as he poked me with his pole.

"Hmm, go away Beast Boy. I'm sick." I swatted at him. He found this offensive and kicked me harshly in the stomach. I gasped as the air was knocked out of me. What a rude awakening. He grabbed my black locks and pulled me up to his face.

" _Ecth ress ha wiss grew den shaw saa_!" I winced as I felt bile rising in my throat.

" **GLOKTA!** " Star screamed. The guard instantly dropped me and armed himself. The restraints holding Star back creaked and groaned. She screamed something unintelligible. The guard closer to her drew back quickly. " **ECTH BOR BIDNA**!"

" _Wess dra'ha do tess?!_ "

" _Yoss Troq din fess! Less tiss min fuss!_ " Their reaction to Star was out of fear, while mine was less that helpful.

I puked.

At the sight of the contents of my sickness, my breath caught in my throat. Everything was red, blood red. I decided not to tell her, she was worried enough about me. However, I had the guards' attention.

" _Tass mess fress hoss?_ "

" _Best tin less!_ "

" _Kompt fress!_ "

They raised their weapons against me and ignited the electric current.

" **GURB!** " Starfire spat savagely, her eyes glowing behind her glasses. " **MORO SVAST!** " Her scream practically shook the room. The guards ran out, slamming the door behind them.

"Um…what just happened?"

She took a moment to catch her breath, and then answered quietly. "They didn't know what you did when you vomited, but they figured it was bad, and were going to kill you."

"Man this would be so much easier if I could understand what they were saying." I moaned. She had a very thoughtful look on her face. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"Excuse me?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Oh…no, nothing." She was not one to blow off things that she was concerned with, and would regularly speak her mind without being asked. So for her to say nothing was on her mind meant that she was hiding something. But it was none of my business to pry.

I was more concerned with the pain in my stomach. What was causing it? Some sort of alien disease? You would think that the ship would be contained enough to prevent the exchange of viruses. Unless I contracted it through the black liquid they soaked me in. I examined my cuts which were healing over. No sign of infection.

Maybe there was something in the food. I thought about it only a little while before a thought struck me. As we had traveled through the ship, I had only scarcely seen rooms with such high security as the one we were in. The door was so thick, and Star was placed in a containment unit that seemed a little much for her small frame. The guards rarely came in, and when they did, they were armed and wasted no time doing business and getting out. They had me care for her, not bothering to go near her. It didn't make much sense, if they thought she really was a 'Troq', they might have been in here more often and been teasing and ridiculing her. Thank God they weren't. But then again, the strong containment unit…the fact that they obeyed her when she shouted and they reacted when she moved…They were afraid! She must have caused some destruction the last time she was here.

"Hey Star, sorry if this is a strange question, but what kind of cell did you use the last time you were on board?"

She bit her lip in thought. "A simple one at first. One that could contain a weaker Tamaranian…not that they would want one. I easily broke out of that one within a week and killed three guards."

"You…killed them?"

"Yes. At that time, I had not yet learned the morals you and our friends carry out on earth. You may say I was savage." That was very apparent by her first trip to earth. A civil person would not have tried to smash me like a bug with a bus. "Afterwards, I was progressively moved into higher containments until I reached one that was one level weaker than this. Which I broke out of, and blew up half of the ship, making my escape."

"So…you could break out of this you think?"

"Possibly. I would not like to try in case of consequence of failure."

"What consequence?"

She looked at me sadly, her green eyes reflecting behind the glasses. "They will take you away from me."

"Oh." And I did not want that to happen. I would lose my translator. More importantly, I would lose my best friend and possibly my life. "I'm a weakness this time around aren't I?"

"You do not wish me to answer that question." The answer was yes, I knew she couldn't lie. "Although, I am glad you are with me. I would not wish to be alone in this experience. I know you did not do in on purpose, but thank you for accompanying me."

"Hey, what are friends for?" The least I could do was try to keep her spirits high. Besides, I didn't like to see her angry or sad. She was really dangerous when she wasn't happy.

Abruptly, a headache took me like a bullet to the brain. I swore my eyes rolled back in my head as I grabbed my hairline in pain.

"Robin!?"

I let out a string of curses. I hated swearing in front of her, but I needed the relief…unfortunately, it did nothing.

"What is happening?"

"I think there's something in the food!" I cried. A tremor shook through my body.

"I do not know what it could be, the food was perfectly fine…"

"What was it? What have I been eating?"

"It looked like boiled grednark. But they usually add stuff to it to make it more tasteful."

"What kinds of things? Like seasonings?"

"Yes…hmm. I only tasted salt."

I thought against my headache, "And boiled grednark smells like garlic?"

"No, that was the salt."

Things started to fall into place. "Table salt doesn't smell like garlic."

"No, it was not your earth salt, NaCl."

"Then what was it?!" My head hurt so badly!

"I believe it was As2O3."

My pulse flat lined for a second. "Starfire…That's Arsenic…"

"Yes, a common ingredient in Gordanian cooking, from what I have experienced."

"And highly toxic to humans."

"Yes and highly—" She stopped and then gasped. "Toxic! X'hal Robin! I did not know!"

"It's okay…but now we know what it is, we can ask them to omit it."

"Hopefully they will."

"I don't think it helps that I've gone awhile without water either."

"Why did you not say this earlier?! I told you before, you will not do the dying on me!"

"Sorry Star, I guess I wasn't thinking…"

"No, you were not!" she scolded. I was touched that she was so worried about me.

By the time dinner rolled around, I had completely emptied my stomach and the bucket sat in the corner, full. Needless to say, I really wanted that water. The guards came in without food at first, but accompanied by a robot. Starfire looked petrified. They didn't bother her, but approached me instead.

" _Nu dess von tress loss sis wess_ ," the Gordanian spoke with his snake tongue.

" _Tet ret bit nut hot_ ," the robot replied in staccato musical notes. Its tiny claw like hand moved in front of my face, holding out a light. " _Ret bed fret git lek?_ " he asked me.

" **Boo von dina. Earthlings garthst'g nom Arsenic, X'arg boo hast Hydrogen Oxide** _._ " At least I could understand part of what she had said. The guard and the robot looked at each other, and then laughed.

" _Dress forts mess de sesstreass?! Gots do loy_!" The monster reached his hand out towards me, as if to pet me, but I gnashed my teeth at him. " _Hmm…bess froma dess_." And then they left.

"Is that bad?"

"No, actually they could not believe that that was all that was wrong. They said they will return with unsalted food and water."

"Praise the Lord!" I threw up my hands as my stomach growled. Her expression of panic hadn't left her face. "What's up?"

She blinked at me. "Gas prices?"

"I mean, what's wrong? What was that robot?"

"That was a Psion." That's all she needed to say.

"Ah…well then."

The guard returned sans Psion with a tray of food, not reeking of garlic. Another replaced my puke bucket with a clean one and set a similar bucket, full of water, next to it. That could be detrimental in the middle of the night.

With my health slowly being restored and my thirst quenched, I was ready to face the events in the coming days.

Well, I thought I was…


	3. Fists to the Ground

I was awakened from my restless slumber by a violent quaver that possessed the ship. I sat up and looked at Starfire, who had the same questioning glance on her face. Suddenly, the full lights turned on in the cell, practically blinding me. The door opened and two guards stood by the door. In came a 'higher up', I was unsure of what position he was in, but he looked regal…despite his scales. He looked at Star with a sneer and then came in front of me. He grabbed my shoulder and bade me to stand. I did, a little uneasily. He grabbed my chin and examined me, tilting my head all different directions and patting on my limbs and torso.

" _Mon don fess as ty loss?_ " he asked the other Gordanians in the room.

" _Earthling_."

" _Wed miss. Truss did fiss. Yon hess_." He then addressed me. " _Hatchel fress_." I looked to Star.

"He wants you to punch him."

I gulped. Not only did I usually use weapons and kicks when I fought, but I'd punched a guard earlier and it hurt like hell. With the look he was giving me, I figured it would be a good idea to obey. I cracked my knuckles, slid my foot back, and with a twist of the wrist and drop of my heel, my fist connected with his stomach. He moved an inch and then laughed.

" _Hubs derse wass fross gress!_ " he rubbed my head fervently and walked away. " _Gebbis don lock ress giss tess!_ "

" _Froks gruss muss duss less Troq?_ "

" _Beits guss jess list!_ " he laughed and they exited. I didn't even look at Star, I just waited for her to tell me.

"You will know soon enough."

That was new. "Starfire…" I said sternly.

"Robin," she said sterner…more stern? Whatever, more intensely than I had called her name. "Trust me."

I shrunk back a bit in obedience.

"I need you to do something," she spoke calmly.

"Anything."

"I need you to kiss me."

My first thought was 'does my breath smell okay?' but then I realized that I should probably ask why to negate suspicion. "Uh…why exactly?"

"My people assimilate languages through lip-contact, I would like to see if it works the other way."

"Any particular reason that we're doing this now?"

She looked at the floor. "For the next few hours, I may not be able to speak with you, and it is important that you know what's going on."

"Ah! And that's why you kissed me when we first met! You were learning English!" Now I felt silly. But why did she speak so properly? I couldn't speak formally for the life of me.

"Yes, what did you think I was doing?"

"Uh…showing appreciation?"

She shook her head. "Hurry, they will be back soon."

I stepped up close to her and rested my hand on her cheek. "To be honest, I've never kissed a girl before…"

"Do not worry, I have done this at least…thirty four times." Ouch. "Do not pull away, I will do so."

I nodded in understanding.

Ever since I had known her, I had craved another one of her kisses. I swallowed thickly and lightly pressed my lips to hers. It wasn't exactly romantic or anything, you know, stuck in a cell in an alien prison, under pressure, no confessions…just business as usual. But this was Starfire, my best friend. I loved her.

I thought about how amazing she was, how strong. I wish I had been a more poetic person last year. We had been stranded, alone, and the topic of a relationship had come up. I confessed that I thought that she was awesome because she was really strong and I thought it was 'totally cool' that she could shoot sunlight through her hands. She mostly got the fact that I didn't mind having her as a friend that was a girl. Fan-fricken-tastic.

Since then, my attempts to tell her my 'feelings' haven't gone very well. I'm a guy, what can I say? But here I was, lip locked with the girl of my dreams. Was I floating? Star floated when she was happy. We bumped noses and I felt my face heat up. If the language transfer didn't work, oh well, she'd keep on kissing me.

Or so I had hoped.

Two claws grabbed my shoulders and pulled me backwards. Panic was scrawled all over Star's face. Mine too, probably.

" _What in Zorg's name is going on in here?_ " The guard whose hand was clamped on me spoke, perfect Gordanian. And I understood him.

" **Lesser y'r kramea?** " 'Did it work?' I could understand them perfectly!

"Yes! Oh Starfire this is great! I-…" I tried to say something in Tamaranian, and then Gordanian, but I couldn't formulate anything. It was like I could hear the language, but I couldn't speak it.

" _What are you blabbering about?_ " He shook me. " _Get the Troq, it's time to go!_ "

There were more guards that came into the room, four swarmed Star, while there was another that came over to me. I couldn't see what was going on with her, but they held me tightly so that I didn't move. My arms were clasped behind my back and the chain connecting me to the wall was removed. Starfire appeared next to me, arms bound completely with double cuffs. Four chains connected to her torque as the guards surrounded her.

" _We don't want any problems, Troq_." The main guard spoke.

" **Glikeh'g stug da gimmer hast haus hatchi raska**." 'I'm not the one you need to worry about.' The guard looked back warily. Then he looked at me with narrowed eyes.

" _Let's go_."

They led us through the ship again, an eerie silence throughout the vessel. Ahead of us, more prisoners were being led out. It was like a mass exodus.

"What's happening?" I asked Star. She didn't respond.

Each inmate was led into a new room, which looked rather small and had no furniture. They put Starfire and I in a cell on the far side and locked us in. From the wall athwart from us, I heard cheering coming from the other side. I walked forward and put my ear to the wall.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the 67_ _th_ _semi-annual Tournament of the Beasts!_ " The crowd cheered. " _This year we have a very special treat for all of you! We have a returning champion, and some new species joining us. So without further adieu…_ " There was a sound of a door opening a little ways away followed with a horrendous roar. " _We have Retnix, from the Vatsenda Quadrant of the Rector system…_ " On and on, the announcer introduced each contender. Each sounding more brutal than the last. I wondered if we were participating in this…or were we the bait? " _And our returning Champion!_ " The wall split in half and opened up, revealing a cheering crowd full of aliens. " _Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran! Accompanied by her pet Earthling_."

Starfire strode out into the coliseum, as I followed quietly behind. Suddenly, she raised her hands into the air and gave a tremendous shout, bringing her hands down hard onto the cement ground. " **HABLG'R HAUS X'HAL!** " 'Glory to God!' She had said this before…it must have been the cheer for Tamaran. A hiss came from her bindings and they cracked. However, they stayed firmly in place. A large cheer came from the crowd.

My eyes had finally adjusted to light. We were in a large dome coliseum, with a clear top, exposing the contestants to the sunlight. The stadium was filled with all sorts of different species. Cameras were whizzing around up in the air on tiny jets. This wasn't just a tournament, this was a televised event. And by the excitement in the crowd…it was like the super bowl.

" _Folks! We have a first in our competition this year, we have_ two _Troqs! And from the same family!_ " My heart sped up, and I so hoped it wasn't Blackfire that was here. " _Please give a warm welcome to the Crown Prince of Tamaran! Ryand'r!_ "

Star turned hastily in the direction of the name of her brother. I looked too, in curiosity. A timid looking young man stepped out, maybe around the same age as Beast Boy. He had the same fiery red hair and sharp jade eyes as his sister.

" **BROTCH'M!** " 'Brother!' Star called out to him. He looked at her in surprise.

" _Now then, we will state the rules for the new viewers and participants. This is an open battle, divided into three different rounds. With each round, the rules are decreased. If an opponent is injured to a point they cannot fight, they will be beamed out of the ring and into the stands. The first round will be the qualifying round, in which the weak will be picked out. But don't count on the size folks! Some of our smallest competitors pack the hardest punch!_ " I immediately knew he was talking about Starfire, since he'd said 'returning champion'.

I guessed there was no way I was going to make it all the way through. Besides Star and Ryand'r, all the other contenders dwarfed me. Ryan, at least, had flight and strength to rely on. What did I have? Just a bunch of 'wicked dance moves', as Cyborg would say. Maybe, just maybe, I could just survive.

" _And here are the rules for the qualifying round. No flight, no weapons of any kind, no projectiles or beams, and if anyone is killed in this round, the culprit will be disqualified. Failure to comply with these rules will result in immediate ejection from the game. Oh, and of course, as every year, there will be a prize. And the prize is worth fighting for._ "

I looked at Star who licked her lips. The prize must be food. Looking at the other competitors, I came to the simple conclusion that Star and I were probably likely targets for this round. I looked weak, and she was a champion. But she still had her cuffs on, which were a huge disability.

" _On my count!...Ten…nine…eight…_ " The crowd counted down with him. " _Seven…six…five…_ " I gulped and took a deep breath. " _Four…three…two…ONE!_ "

Mass chaos erupted as a brawl ensued. A giant fist came hurling towards me, but I did a triple back flip to escape it. The other hand followed suit and swung sideways. I avoided it by doing a back bend. The beast attacking me looked sort of like a man with an ox's head. I noticed that I had speed and agility over this creature, and I used it to my advantage. The next time his fist came swinging at me, I dodged it and then swung up on his arm. He turned his head to look at me as I crouched on his forearm. Perfect. I just prayed that his anatomy was similar to humans. I shot my hand out and poked two pressure points in his forehead.

Down he fell like a great tree. I had only knocked him unconscious, thankfully. A yellow light landed on him and he was vaporized. I didn't have much time to wonder what happened before a tentacle wrapped around my ankle and sent me into the air. I cursed as I tried to pry out of its grip, but it tightened and spun me twice and then let go, sending me soaring across the arena. The wall was approaching fast and I braced myself for impact. Instead, I hit something soft. I opened my eyes to see a giant holding me, before he set me down. I came up to his knee.

"Thanks!" I shouted. He looked at me with blood red eyes, before he lifted his foot. "Oh boy…" I somersaulted out of the way of being squashed, only to roll into the range of a snakelike creature who shot out and struck at me. I rolled from side to side as the strikes came in a more rapid succession. I waited for an opening, and then kicked out at his face. Perfect shot. The creature recoiled while I made my get away.

The timer on the clock ran out, much to my great pleasure. " _That ends the qualifying round!_ " the creature at the booth shouted. I heaved. I was weak with so little food, and I didn't know how much more of this so called 'tournament' I could handle. As I looked around, different species stood around waiting. The stands began to fill as the disqualified competitors occupied the seats. I didn't see my friend among the faces. Where could she have gone?

Across the arena, I saw a flash of red. Starfire had made it, as if I had doubted she would, but she was so far away.

" _And the elimination round begins!_ " Elimination? Must be the same as before, except more intense. This was already hard enough being the only human, but my knuckles were starting to bleed. I wished they let me keep my weapons. " _Flight and weapons are permitted in this round, but no projectiles or killing_."

That peeved me. I could be using my belt, but they took it away from me! Was I the only one they'd done that to?

" _One!_ "

I didn't even hear the countdown this time, I just jumped as an ax came swinging at my feet. Now that I had gotten the hang of this brawl, I could observe the foreigners fighting around me, but I couldn't take in as much detail as I would have liked to.

I bumped into something from behind and turned sharply. The man could simply be described as grunged. His armor looked old, and like he hadn't had to used it in a long time. I couldn't see his face from a respiratory mask covering it. He reminded me of a Samurai in a way, and then a robot in others. He lowered his sword as he looked at me. I kept my hands up in defense.

" **Rutha?** " he asked in a gruff voice. That was the Tamaranian word for weak. He must have assumed I was from Tamaran from my duds.

I nodded to his question.

" _What is your name?_ " he asked in Gordanian this time.

"Robin," I replied in English.

He bowed to me, and then turned his back. I was no expert in space combat, but that didn't seem very wise to do to your opponent. To my surprise, he was guarding me. And doing an excellent job at it, to boot. I took the opportunity to catch my breath and look for Starfire once again. When I found her, she was in the mouth of some alligator/piranha hybrid. She was holding its jaws open like a wedge. I almost had a heart attack.

My attention was brought back to my situation when I heard my name called in an accent. " _Robin!_ "

I spun on my heel as two swords came whizzing at my head. I caught them swiftly and watched as my new friend glowed and disappeared, joining the ranks of the other wounded soldiers.

"Thanks for the parting gift." I didn't have the luxury to linger. I jumped into action, twirling the blades in my hands, getting adjusted to the weight. Batman had never trained me in the art of sword fighting. Simply because no one used swords anymore. But I had watched enough ninja and Samurai movies with Beast Boy, that I could handle the weapon. Things are always so much harder in real life than in the movies.

But, I still managed to take out a few giants by slicing their heels. They didn't like me, and I seemed to be accumulating enemies as I went along. My size and agility made it hard for them to catch me. Now, don't get me wrong, I had gotten thrown across the arena more times than I would have wanted and I was pretty sure that wasn't just sweat pouring from my brow.

I saw motion from the corner of my eye and turned into an X-block just in time. My opponent wielded a wooden bow staff, and he had just aimed it at my head. After his first blow hadn't worked, he pulled back and repetitively wailed on my blades. The block held strong. His last hit, he pushed against me and tried to break through. I, in turn, flung the swords back, resulting in his staff slicing in half. He looked befuddled as I hit him with the butt of my sword and knocked the air out of him. He disappeared into the crowd.

Just when I thought that I had a chance in this game, I was proven wrong. I felt a sharp sting in the back of my leg. I swiveled around only to see some disgusting creature sinking its teeth into my calf. It looked up at me with its beady black eyes. I shot my leg forward into a snap kick. The force of the motion sent the little devil flying, unfortunately ripping my flesh in the process. It stood a few feet in front of me, hissing. My blood dripped off its needle-like teeth.

Suddenly, everything went yellow, and then I was in the stands. I was irked, and yet relieved. Only my leg had been injured, and as long as the bite wasn't poisonous, I'd be okay. I was done fighting for my life anyway, and I sighed in relief.

" _So, we meet again_."

I turned to see my Space Samurai friend. I returned his weapons. "Uh…thanks…" I scratched my head for a word. "Uh… **Tho-Thouvaste**?" I hoped I had said it correctly.

He tilted his hat in acknowledgement. " _I don't believe I introduced myself. My name is Xing Shou. I'm the last of the four great Samurai of the planet Xebyon._ " I was right! He was a Samurai! " _And you are from Earth, correct?_ "

I nodded.

" _And do they have a populace that speaks Hessdon?_ " That must have been the name of the language he was speaking. Must have been universal. I shook my head. " _Then it is surprising that you can understand what we are saying._ "

I touched my lips. " **Koriand'r** … **Swucka** … **Rattal** …" I tried to explain, but the only words I processed were 'speak' and 'fail.' Which was ironic, since, I  _did_  fail at speaking.

" _Oh, you tried a linguistics transfer with your Tamaranian, and it didn't work?_ "

That was amazing. I must have been better at communicating then I thought. " **Sall**."

" _Not to fear, I'll speak on your behalf for the time being_."

" **Thou** … **vaste**." I tried again. For now though, I wanted to find Starfire. I wanted to make sure she was alright, hopefully the beasts didn't maim her. My worry was short lived as I saw a red and green streak take off into the air and then pile drive into a bulging, green monster.

Good to know she was alive and well. I pointed her out to Xing.

" _Ah, of course she's still in this. She's won every year she's participated_." Why didn't she say that sooner? That would have been so nice to know!

"Star, if you die out there, I'll kill ya," I muttered in English.

I'd never had the chance to really observe her in battle before. The only time that she had fought without holding back, in my presence, is when she fought me for the first time. Scratch that, when she chased me like a mad man for the first time. I observed her controlled fighting when Cyborg set her up in front of punching bags. And every once in a while I'd check on her during a street fight. But the way she was fighting now, it was liking nothing I had never seen before. She literally was holding nothing back.

The buzzer went off. Starfire lowered her bound arms and her shoulders moved as she breathed. She was looking around, a bit slowly at first, and then more swiftly, with panic.

I took a wild guess that she was looking for me. "STARFIRE!" I screamed above all the noise. She spotted me and waved. Then she continued her search. She found what she was looking for when her brother floated up and landed in front of her.

" **Satch'm!** " I saw him say. They talked for a moment, and then she pointed me out in the audience. I gave a nervous wave. A smile appeared on his face as he raised his fist to the sky. The traditional Tamaranian greeting.

" _Well folks, there's been a good fight this time around, but all good things must come to an end. Believe it or not, there are only twelve contenders left for the final match. It's anyone's game, especially the way they have been fighting so far. I am surprised to see the young Prince still in it. He must have picked up some tricks from his sister. Let's just see who comes out on top. There can only be one winner!_ "

I wrung my hands as my nerves became high strung. The pain in my leg didn't help.

" _And so begins the final round!_ " Suddenly, a sprinkler system turned on and dosed the arena with the black liquid they had drenched us with when we boarded. It made the ground slick, and looked to cool off the fighters. " _In this round, the only rule is no killing. Combatants, on your marks!_ " The clock began its count down. Starfire rolled her shoulders and popped her neck. "… _three_ … _two_ … _one!_ "

Immediately, Starfire began to smash her fists into walls, the ground, anything hard. At first, I wondered what she was doing, but then it struck me. She was trying to free her hands from the cuffs. It looked like she was loosening them up, but they still wouldn't come off.

" **Satch'm!** " Ryand'r called again. He held a competitor in his grasp above his head. It reminded me of a giant pill bug. Starfire grinned.

" **ISTAKN TRUS**!" 'Over here!'

He wound up, and pitched. She raised her hands and swung like she was hitting a baseball. The satisfying sound of clashing metal struck my ears. The audience gave a resounding 'Ooo!' as the pill bug soared through the air towards the audience. He was vaporized before he hit anyone.

The contenders collectively stepped away from Star, who was smiling devilishly. One shake of her arms, and the top layer of her bindings fell with a clang to the ground. The other opponents looked at each other and nodded in understanding. They were teaming up against her. All the better for the two Tamaranians. Ryand'r took a few steps back so he was partially behind his sister. A green fire ignited from her hands.

" **VORGY H'Y X'ARG GLIKE DOUGA SHOTA GIMMER**!" 'Surrender now and I shall spare you.' Oh yeah, she was definitely getting better at intimidation. Among the players, three raised their hands and disappeared in a flash of yellow. " **OKMAR THRART Y'R**!" 'So be it!' She raised her hands as the glow intensified. In a barrage of glowing green discs, four players were vaporized, their armor being inadequate. Two opponents were left, one for each of the siblings.

The crowd cheered as the rivals seemed evenly matched, despite the size difference. Starfire was about to deliver her final blow, when she caught sight of her brother lying on the ground, struggling to rise. His opponent raised his foot, to bring it crashing down.

" **RYAND'R!** " Star cried in fear. She shot a bolt at her brother to roll him out of the way, but in turn, knocked him unconscious. She stopped fighting when she realized what she had done. He lied limply on the ground, no sort of movement. I could see tears glistening on her face as he glowed and disappeared.

The creature she had been fighting seized the moment and swept her off her feet and sent her careening into the wall. She bounced back at lightning speed. I heard a sickening crack as she splintered his lower leg bones. He, too, joined the audience, howling as he went.

And then there were two. " **GIMMER DOUGA MORTA DOTE THAR GIMTH'G LESSET!** " 'You will pay for what you've done.' Her voice cracked as she yelled.

" _Fool! I haven't done a thing! You hurt your kin, not me! But of course you can't take responsibility for your actions. After all, once a Troq, always a Troq_." His black spiny armor shifted as he breathed. His thick sword gleamed red as his sharp boots kicked up some mud on the floor of the arena. A hideous iron mask covered his face.

" **KUST'G ZARNARF JZORK!** " 'Don't taunt me!'

" _I merely speak the truth, you may have won in the past, but you cannot defeat me. I'm stronger, faster, better._ " It was clear he was trying to psych her out as they danced around each other. " _While_ _you_ _are worthless._ "

" _STOP IT!_ " she shouted as she collided with him. I couldn't watch, and on reflex, I shut my eyes and hid behind my hands. I heard Starfire scream bloody murder and a horrific clatter resound around the arena. The crowd gasped in shock, and then cheered.

I peeked out from behind my fingers. Star stood with one foot on the enemy's back, and held his mask in her grip. She ground her teeth in anger. The body glowed yellow and Starfire was alone in the ring.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Starfire had won! There she was, standing by herself in the middle of the arena, raising her glowing fists to the crowd as they cheered.

" _And you there you have it folks, Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran!_ "

The crowd went nuts. " _KORIAND'R! KORIAND'R!_ "

I, of course, was ecstatic. I had been so worried for her, but her she was, completely unharmed, and champion. I cheered for her wholeheartedly.

Until Xing grabbed my arm. " _Now is not the time to celebrate_."

As if the announcer had heard him, the speakers sprang to life. " _And what a fighter! Princess Koriand'r has been trained as a warrior on Tamaran and on earth! She even brought a pet with her...he must have gotten injured. This is not the Princess's first time out here either! She was with us four drethaxian years ago. Back then, she came out on top four fights in a row, before her infamous escape. I think most loyal viewers will remember the final fight she had with Komand'r of Tamaran. After all, it was her fault they were here in the first place. But every title match, she declined the Death Match. Let's see if she'll do it again this year, especially since the prize is valuable to her._ "

I gulped. Death match? I didn't like the sound of it. A glass box rose up in the middle of the arena with the so-called 'prize' inside. I almost laughed.

" _If Miss Koriand'r participates in the bonus round, the winner will receive this! A custom made earthen collar!_ "

First of all, it's a belt. And it's mine. Well, was mine. Batman had it custom made five years ago, for my thirteenth birthday. It was your basic tool belt, or utility belt, if you will. It was bright yellow in colour and had small pouches, which contained weapons that came in handy with street cleanup.

" _It contains little surprises, and makes an excellent trophy. Originally belonging to the Princess's Earthling, this is a one of a kind prize._ "

And will collect dust if Star didn't get it.

" _Let's bring out the competitor_."

The crowd already started cheering. " _GRENDAL! GRENDAL!_ "

" _Captured outside the Centari system, our current champion is a professional bounty hunter and the last of his kind. Weighing in at a whopping 1700 ferts, Grendal the Monstrous!_ "

The crowd continued cheering as the ship began to rhythmically shake. He appeared slowly from the east gate, ducking under the doorway. He stood at his full height, and the pain in my leg ceased. 'The Monstrous' did not even describe him. Starfire was the size of his face! Probably smaller! He had a claw for one hand and a sword for the other. His body was safe guarded by dingy bronze armor, which layered like scales. Pipes surrounded his face and his eyes glowed red. The hydraulics in his limbs hissed as he reached the middle of the arena. His stature cast a shadow over half the stadium. I didn't like it, not one bit. There was no way she could beat him.

" _Well Troq, what's your answer? You have gained the right to decline and walk away, or face Grendal for the belt. What shall it be?_ "

"Don't do it Star!" I pleaded. "It's not worth it!" But my shouts were drowned out in the crowd. She looked hesitant, and for a moment I thought she would decline, but then she made her mistake.

She looked at me, and then at the belt. Her fists shot into the air as she shouted, " **SALL! GLIKE HALTER!** "

'Yes, I accept.'


	4. Celebration

I sighed in defeat. The crowd cheered. Xing rested a hand of consolation on my shoulder.

" _Alright folks, the rules for this round…there are no rules! Anything goes. Last one breathing wins_."

Starfire's face changed to horror as she looked to me. She knew how I felt about killing, but it was too late now. I nodded to her, showing her it would be okay. Of course it wouldn't, but at least we could pretend.

" _To make this fight fair…_ " The announcer pressed a button up in the booth and Star's armbands opened completely to free her. She moved her arms and rubbed her wrists. " _Anything you want to say before the fight starts?_ "

She looked at me, and I urged her on. " _May I have a minute to replenish my energy?_ "

The ref standing off to the side looked at her strangely, and then motioned her to continue. She removed some of the metal bands that hid her skin from the light, in return, making her completely vulnerable. She slowly floated to the top of the dome and bathed in the sunlight. She almost glowed with energy. After her promised minute, she returned to the ground of the ring, ready to go.

" _Alright everyone, for the title of Grand Champion, Princess Koriand'r vs. Grendal the Monstrous._ "

" _Ten_ … _nine_ … _eight_ …" My hands shook in nervousness. I didn't want her to do this. There was no point. I just prayed that she would make it. "… _two_ … _one_!"

For a while, Starfire just zipped around the monster while he swatted at her. My hair scattered in the wind from his swings. After awhile, he became tired and stopped swatting. From this, she came up to his face and kicked. He took a few steps back. She actually did damage!

He roared and sent her flight pattern off balance so she faltered. His claw snatched her from the air and threw her to the ground, where she made impact on the cement. I winced.

She started to get up, but Grendal's foot raised into the air.

"Oh, please, no…" I begged.

She let out a scream as he stomped down on top of her. The whole ship shook. The crowd cringed. The referee laughed.

"STARFIRE!" I screamed. Without thinking, I ran down the steps, blindly jumped over the railing, and landed back inside the ring. Adrenaline prevented the pain from shooting up my leg.

" _Aw, isn't that sweet? The little earthling is concerned for his master! He should get out of there, it is dangerous,_ " the anchor warned. I ignored him, but stopped running towards Star. Grendal had turned his attention from me, to his foot. A wave of awe hit me as I realized what was happening. His leg lifted the tiniest bit. Star was lifting his foot off her!

He recoiled from her, and she stumbled out of the crater. I ran to her.

"Are you okay?!" Obviously she wasn't, but I wasn't thinking very well at the time.

She popped her neck and rolled her shoulders. With a grimace, she grabbed the side of her chest. " **Y'r** … **Thoma** …" 'It hurts.' The only time I had ever seen her in pain was when I yelled at her. This bothered me.

"Can you continue?"

I was hoping she would say no, but she just pushed me away. " **Meina flug! Y'rt stug tullna!** " 'Stay back, it's not safe!' As if I didn't know that…I rested my hand on her shoulder.

"You got this, think of it as Vic's training." I smiled.

She smiled back. Then she stood up straight and levitated. I ran back to the edge of the arena. My adrenaline levels lowered and the pain in my leg resumed. I slumped against the wall. Star raised her fists, prepared to fight.

" _Are you sure?_ " spoke a mighty voice. Grendal had finally spoken.

She wavered. " _I need that belt. It's important._ "

" _You should know, Your Majesty, I don't wish to die today_."

" _Neither do I_."

" _Then let the best champion win_."

A high pitched ringing came from the speakers. " _Less talking! More Fighting!_ "

Star was visibly annoyed. The fight progressed much like it started, with her zipping around and kicking him when he rested his arms. It was a slow process, but it was working. There was something about Grendal, I really didn't want Star to hurt him. He looked like he wasn't even trying, which I was thankful for.

The crowd started to boo. " _Well folks, it looks like the Troq doesn't have enough guts to end the fight. We know Grendal won't end it_."

Grendal wouldn't end it? What was that supposed to mean? Unless, the whole thing had been set up! That couldn't be right! I called up to the aliens sitting closest to the railing.

"Hey! Uh…" I conjured my best hessdon. " _Fight_ … _fave_ …Koriand'r?"

Some squid faced elderly chap answered me. " _Didn't you know? The death match is an execution. The Gordanians prefer to give hope to those on death row, so they can crush them_." Sounded barbaric.

"Grendal… _crime_ … _did?_ "

" _Crime? No, he was just captured…_ "

" _Why_ … _kill?_ "

" _The same reason the rest of us are in this game. Ethnic cleansing._ "

I could believe what I was hearing. Some of the people on this ship had done nothing wrong! Just born on the wrong planet! Suddenly, my heart grew heavy for Grendal. And if Star killed him, she would just prove the 'Troq' title fitting. She fell right into their trap, and only because they used my belt as bait. They did all of this on purpose. I had to tell her, she couldn't kill him.

I was too late. As I stood up, she summoned a ball of pure energy in her hands. It grew in size until the whole stadium glowed green. She sent it sailing into Grendal and knocked him off his feet. He fell backwards like an enormous tree.

"NO!"

As he laid against the wall, Star hovered in front of his face, her hands glowing, ready to give the final blow.

"Star! Stop! It's a trap!"

The stadium went eerily silent as Grendal spoke, his voice so soft I could barely hear him. " _Do not let what they say ruin you. You are valuable. You have worth and purpose. You are no Troq._ "

Her bolt was extinguished. She sank until she stood on his chest. " **GLIKE FORKMAST'G SORNA BOR!** " 'I cannot kill him.'

" _WHAT! You little-!_ " The ref intervened.

" _He has done nothing wrong! I can't take an innocent life! I can't! I won't!_ "

" _I concede defeat,_ " Grendal added.

" _Well, there you have it folks! Our winner!_ " It became apparent to me that the announcer was not Gordanian, and therefore didn't know the secret plot behind the death match. The referee threw up his hands and exited the arena.

" _Thank you, Koriand'r._ "

" _You are most welcome friend Grendal, I hope they will let you partake of my prize feast with me._ "

" _That is hopeful thinking, young Tamaranian._ "

The platform containing my belt rose from the ground again. Star seized it and floated over to me. " _Robin! I got your belt back for you!_ " She held it out for me. I took it and then clasped it around  _her_  waist. " _I do not understand…_ "

"This is  _your_  prize." I smiled.

She hugged me and then flew back to center stage, where she basked in the glory of the cheering crowd. " **HUR MOCKA VON KORIAND'R! GURB KATA DOUGA GLIKE THRART ZANKTA TROQ!** " 'My name is Koriand'r, no longer will I be called Troq!'

" _No Koriand'r, I don't think anyone will be calling you Troq you for a long time._ "

I sat on my mattress while Star kneeled in front of me. We were back in the cell, and Star was tending to my leg. The guards stood and watched so that we didn't try to escape, especially since Star was temporarily out of her cuffs. I winced as the needle punctured my skin for the eighteenth time. I'd had stitches before, and had learned it was always worse to count the number of stitches sewn, but I guess old habits die hard.

" _Please Robin, try to relax_."

"Yeah, sure. Relax while you embroider my leg." I tried to think of something else. "Hey, I noticed you haven't spoken English to me since the kiss...er, language transfer. Why?"

" _I do not know,_ " she said impassively.

It was a good enough excuse for me. I sighed, "This sucks." I waited for her to brighten the moment with her optimism, or ask why I was comparing the situation to a vacuum. She did neither, just continued her work.

"You've been awfully quiet today. You okay?"

" _I do not know,_ " she said impassively, again. Now I was really concerned. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like what the conclusion was. I had to test it.

"Squirrel runners like drunken marionettes," I droned.

No response. It was like she didn't even hear me. I took both of her hands in mine and looked deeply into her eyes, making sure she was listening. I couldn't believe I was about to do this.

"Star, if I had to be trapped on an alien prison ship, I am so glad it was with you. You're my best friend, and the only person I've ever let in. I…I love you."

She blinked at me, slight confusion gleaming in her eyes.

"Do you know what I'm saying?"

" _I do not know._ " An apologetic smile graced her face. Then she continued.

I was right. The language transfer messed up more than I had thought. She'd given up her English so that I could understand this new world.

Since the tournament, they'd kept us in our cell. A day had passed, I think. I wasn't sure since there were no clocks or windows. We had two meals and slept sometime in there, not for long though. My leg was healing nicely. The bite wasn't poisoned, nor did it contain any bacteria prone to infection. It still hurt to walk on it though.

It was around dinnertime when they came to get us, I could tell since my stomach was growling. The guards were completely silent. One gently raised me to my feet and unclipped my chain.

" _You will escort your Princess to dinner this evening_ ," he spoke.

Star smiled as the guard let her out, undoing her bindings as well. She strolled up to me and took my arm. I used her as a crutch to walk, but she didn't mind.

" _The Azagardians are holding a ceremony in your honor for your victory in the tournament. Many races will be there, and it would be wise to not use this as an escape opportunity_."

Star nodded in understanding, knowing that she wouldn't be able to escape if she wanted, and what would happen if she attempted and failed.

A different species came into the room, equipped with white and purple fabric. Whatever it was, it approached Star and used the white fabric to hide the black fabric of her uniform. Her prison attire was converted to a long dress, which resembled the dress she wore when she almost married Glirdelscletch. The foreigner similarly did the same to me with the purple fabric, only in a more masculine fashion. They led us into the hallway, surrounding us on all sides. The walk was quiet until Star finally spoke.

" _Is this counting as a 'date'? I believe the tradition on Earth, a man escorts a woman into a restaurant where they engage in dinner and mundane conversation._ "

I rolled my eyes. She had been watching too many of Rachel's chick flicks. " **Sall** ," I replied.

Her smile widened as she tightened her grip on my arm.

We arrived at two large double doors. The other side sounded crowded and excited.

" _Introducing, the great Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran and her Earthling!_ " a thunderous voice echoed behind the doors. They swung open to a large space, resembling a cafeteria. The ceilings were tall and dome shaped. High windows was on two of the walls, letting in light from the nearest stars. A large red planet hung in the sky. The room was decorated with luscious greens and vibrant purples, Tamaran's colours. Table after table were crowded with all sorts of strange creatures, varying completely between each other. Some small and weak, some spiny and fierce, and others glob-like.

An overwhelming silence went up through the room. Without speaking, they all stood and fell into positions of respect as we passed. Some bowed, others covered their hearts, and others still saluted or raised their fists in the air. I noticed though, each guest had a blinking device on their bodies. I tried not to think about it too much.

" _Robin_ ," someone whispered in the crowd. It was Xing, and he tipped his hat. I smiled and nodded at him.

We made our way to a large table in the front of the room that was suspended on a platform. Grendal sat at one end, only his head and shoulders visible. I figured he was sitting in a stairwell or something to that effect. Two open spots for Star and I were next to him. At the other end of the table, three figures sat in critical air. They were garnished in royal garb, as guards stood behind them in attention.

As we approached the table, Star stopped and kneeled. She put one knee to the ground, one fist to her heart on her right side, and one fist to the ground. I quickly mimicked her stance.

" **Hablg'r haus X'hal.** "

" _Arise young warriors. You have fought well_." The middle figure spoke. He looked almost human, despite the fact that he looked young, but had silver hair.

" **SHOTA DEN ROWK!** " The crowd suddenly shouted with a stomp to the floor. I didn't catch the translation, so it must not have been in any language I learned from Star.

We went to our seats. As soon as I was comfortable, I heard a click and my ankles were bound. Of course.

The meal commenced. Yet again, I didn't know what I was eating. It wasn't the same gray glob they fed us in the cell, but I still thought it looked like prison food. At least it didn't smell like garlic. I started to help myself, while Star sat with her hands folded on the table in front of her waiting. I looked at her in question, but she just waved me off, signaling me to continue.

A few moments passed before there was a clatter in the back of the room. Someone stood, and the species sitting around him waited to see what he would do. He looked angrily at Star.

" _So Troq!_ " he yelled across the room, getting everyone else's attention. I sighed. There was always someone to make a ruckus. " _Are you going to tell us why you spared the giant's life? All of us know that a Troq would kill without hesitation! Are you trying to prove something?!_ "

The big wigs at the other end of our table were looking to Star in anticipation. A small smile graced her face, as if she had been expecting the question. She stood slowly, and took a deep breath.

" _Why do you call me that name? Have I not proved that it is an inaccurate description of my kind?_ " She paused, but didn't expect an answer. " _I will admit, if I had been captured from Tamaran, Grendal would not be sitting next to me. But I have learned a great deal in my training in the last three years, as I have been on Earth._ " She rested her hand on my shoulder. " _My dear friend Robin has taught me much in the ways of culture. Earthlings believe that all life is sacred, and has a purpose. It is not a living being's place to judge if another lives or dies._ "

" _So you're saying living on Earth has just changed your perspective on sports?_ "

" _No, not just that. When one murders…he enters a hole._ "

I recognized this lecture. I had given it to her after she had almost killed Slade when he had shot me in the shoulder. It was the same one Bruce had told my adoptive brother, Jason, and I when Joker had paralyzed Batgirl.

" _He believes that only one death is okay, if the victim deserves it. It will make the world a better and safer place. But then another 'necessity' comes around and he kills again and again, slowing digging himself deeper and deeper. Eventually the only evil that would be left, would be standing in the middle of a canyon, being more deserving of death than the ones he has killed. He has brought ruin upon himself_."

An eerie silence went up through the room. I swelled with pride.

" _It is easy to kill one that you hate. But true strength is in the one who shows compassion to their enemies_." She turned to the Azagardians. " _I thank you for hosting this celebration. But I do not deserve it. I only did what was necessary to survive_."

" _You did not wish to participate in the tournament?_ " the one on the end asked, baffled.

Star was caught in a corner and had said too much. " _Um, not exactly…_ "

Suddenly, a stinging feeling hit me right above my clavicle, where a blinking light sat. I gripped the table, but tried to hold back signs of pain. The others hadn't noticed, but Star did.

" _I mean, I was just trying to survive the death match,_ " she answered hurriedly.

I sighed in relief as the pain ceased.

Slowly, everyone in the room rose from their seats, even the Azagardians. A massive applause went up thought the space. She gave a small smile and nodded to the crowd. Under the table, she clasped my hand in apology.

My chest was still tingling.


	5. Hallucinations and Experimentations

" _Get up Earthling_ ," I was commanded as I opened my eyes. I glanced over to see Starfire still sleeping, her head lulled off to the side. I got up silently and held out my wrists for the impending handcuffs. The guard clicked them on and unlocked my chain from the wall, using it as a leash. " _Come on. The head Psion wants to see you_."

For a moment, my mouth went dry. Wasn't Star experimented on by the Psions? Wasn't she...almost killed? I hoped that maybe I would be luckier. Maybe I would even get some super human traits out of it.

Yeah, right.

The guard led me up through the ship to an all white hallway. He typed in an access code on one of the doors. It slid open slowly. Light seemed to pour out into the dim hall from all the lights hanging from the ceiling. The whole room was a pristine, cold white. A metal chair sat in the middle of the room, and a large screen floated next to it. The chair had many wires and cords weaved around it.

" _Sit._ " He pointed to the seat. I nodded as he removed my cuffs. As soon as my butt hit the chair, metal restraints shot out and caught my limbs.

"Great," I said aloud.

The guard retreated and a robot took his place. It resembled the one that had come in the cell earlier, but since it had been so dark in there, this was my first time seeing it clearly. A scrawny little thing, I probably could have taken it out with one kick. It rolled on four wheels, the bottom of its body in a square shape. Its torso revolved on a ball and its head attached to a piped protrusion. Its circuits and wiring were all exposed. Four fork-shaped pincers opened and closed. But the face of the robot was what made me uncomfortable, a white plastic mask, humanoid in make, stared at me upside down.

I said nothing.

" **Therg ku gimmer stug forgu Tamaranian?** " 'Why do you not look Tamaranian?'

"Because I'm not," I spoke simply in English.

The Psion's head whirled around in response. The sound of hydraulics hit my ears as I looked up. Something like a giant claw lowered right above my head. Then an alien camera drifted in front of my face until I was eye level with the lens. I heard some beeping.

" _Can you understand Gordianian and Tamaranian?_ "

"Yes, but I can't speak either of them."

More beeping, and then he replied. " _Have you had a linguistics transfer with your Tamaranian?_ "

I blushed.

" _Will reading your mind give me answers?_ "

Before I could do anything, the camera shot a bright light in my eyes and my face showed up on the screen.

" _Who are you? What do they call you?_ " Random symbols appeared on the screen. " _Is your name Richard John Grayson? Do they call you Robin? Do you speak English?_ "

My jaw dropped.

His voice was hypnotic. " _Where are you from? Are there mountains?...Are you from Jump City, California, United States of America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Solar System? What do you call your many mountains?_ "

He asked question after question, not expecting me to answer any of them. My eyelids began to droop as the information was sucked out of me. At least I was in space where no one would know.

Where no one could hear me scream.

" _Are you afraid? Do you wish to leave?_ "

I gave a weak groan in response.

" _Do you know you may not leave? Why do you fear me? Why are you scared?_ "

'Because you're a creepy ass robot probing my brain for answers'. I thought.

" _Why are you so rude?_ "

Damn.

" _Why don't you just sleep?_ "

Before I could think of a rebuttal, a gas was sprayed in my face. I saw my eyes dilate before my senses were pulled back and things felt foggy.

" _Robin?_ "

…

"Robin?"

Someone was there. Someone…living.

"Robin? Will you be doing the 'getting up' soon? It is past sunrise, and you did not come up to the roof to watch it with me. Are you ill?"

I blinked my eyes open. Two very bright jade eyes looked back at me.

"Oh. Morning Star." I yawned. I sat up and looked around. I was in my bed, covered with my red comforter. My mahogany furniture was strategically placed around my room. My matching Superman and Batman posters were the only decorations on my lemon yellow walls. This was my room, in my house. Home. "I just had a really strange dream last night…" I attempted to explain.

"Oh really? It must have been most particular if you did not wake up at your normal time. Why do we not go meet our friends? You can relay your dream over breakfast."

"Fair enough." I got up, and to my surprise, I was wearing my uniform. I must have fallen asleep as soon as we got back from the fight yesterday. I went into my bathroom and combed my unruly black hair. It always fell into two spit curls in front of my face. I hated it.

"Come on Robin, I am close to starvation! I believe the cakes of pan are being made for breakfast."

"I'm coming!" I shouted as I threw some gel in my hair to keep it in line. She was already out the door by time I caught up with her. We ventured down the hall in relative silence. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her that I dreamt we were captured by aliens. The Gordanians no less. She'd probably be upset about it.

We reached the door to the common room. On the other side, I was already anticipating the oncoming argument that, as leader, I'd have to deal with. Beast Boy was a hard core vegan, and wanted to share the joys of tofu with the world. Cyborg, on the other hand, loved meat and everything about meat. Beast Boy constantly begged Cy to make a vegan breakfast instead of staple egg, bacon, and ham breakfasts. The answer was always the same.

'No way, Grass Stain.'

I shook my head and walked into the room. To my utter surprise, Cyborg was not in the kitchen, and neither was Beast Boy. Raven couldn't be cooking breakfast; last time she tried, all the eggs looked like half-burned mutants. Was I too late for breakfast?

"Dude! You cheated! You looked up the cheat codes before we started playing!" BB shouted from the couch.

"You're just jealous 'cause I got game and you don't!"

A different sort of argument was going on. The flat screen had 'Winner' written on it in big blue letters, two monkeys occupied the bottom of the screen. One dancing in victory, the other dead. They were playing Super Mega Monkeys 8. Beast Boy claimed it did great for hand eye coordination. Too bad, he sucked at the game.

"There is no way you could have beat me! I was ahead!"

"'Was' is the keyword! You  _were_  in the lead, but then I used 'Fist of the Ape King' and killed your little chimp!"

"You're cruel, you know that?"

"Would you just shut up?!" Raven interrupted from the other side of the couch. She had a thick ancient tome in her hands and a cup of herbal tea on the table next her. "So annoying…It's still morning."

"Hey guys…" I started.

"Oh Dude! I totally have a joke for you!"

I sighed, Beast Boy's jokes were never very funny. "Okay…"

"What's Batman's favorite bone?"

"I don't know. What  _is_  Batman's favorite bone?"

"The sphenoid!"

I could almost hear the crickets chirping outside. "I don't get it."

"…its' cause the sphenoid is shaped like a bat…"

Raven looked up from her book. "That was dumb."

I chose this as an opportunity to finally ask. "Hey Cy, did I miss breakfast?"

"Nope."

"Aren't you going to…like…make it? Or are we fending for ourselves?"

"Me make it? I can't cook!" He looked at me as if I was high.

"But then…" I wondered as I turned to the kitchen. A woman was in there, who was not there before.

She looked at me with a smile. "Hello my little Robin!" She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, just like mine. She had the same toothy grin that I remembered. And she was even wearing the red and yellow leotard I last saw her wearing.

My mother.

"M-mama?" I asked incredulously. I sounded like a child.

She came and kneeled in front of me, smoothing my hair and cupping my cheek in one swift motion. "What would you like for breakfast, Sweetheart?"

I just stared at her, unable to believe she was really here. A strong part of me wanted to throw my arms around her and cry. But another, more logical component won over. I frowned at her.

"Who are you?"

The smile on her face brightened, her eyes dancing. "Why would you ask such a silly question?"

"My mother is dead, ten  _years_  dead." I growled, now angry.

Her jovial disposition vanished instantly. Suddenly, I was a teenager again, and ready to fight an opponent. She blinked and her blue eyes faded into sheer blackness. Her neck popped as her head spun upside down. Her arms split in half and formed four separate limbs, each with pincers. I recoiled, repulsed.

"What is wrong 'my little Robin'? Afraid of your own mother?!"

"You aren't my mother." I hissed as I did a crescent kick and knocked her block off. I turned to my friends who were transforming by the second. I backed up. I must have still been on the Gordanian ship, under the influence of the Psion. I had to wake myself up. No matter how unnerving this illusion was, it was just a dream. There was a window on the opposite side of the room that looked out on the bay. Our rooms were on the top floor of the building, which was nine stories tall. Plenty to induce shock.

I ran at full speed. Cyborg's frame sped into my path. I did a front handspring to launch myself over him. I nearly missed my opening, but I was able to push off his big head. I rolled out of my jump with a summersault. My feet barely touched the ground. I pushed through the glass and saw the ground for a split second before it was replaced with a bright light.

…

I gasped. My restrains kept me from jumping from my seat.

" _Was that fast? Were you scared?_ "

'I've faced worse.'

" _Like Slade? The man that tormented you?_ "

'Yeah, like Slade.'

" _Do you miss him? Do you wish to repeat those days you had with him?_ "

My eyes widened for a split second as I felt a needle puncture my skin. They were inducing another dream on me! No!

…

"Wake up."

I kept my eyes closed to the icy voice standing a little ways away. My face was against the ground.

"I didn't hit you  _that_  hard."

I groaned as I got up from the floor. The cool metal of my armbands and collar chilled my skin. The familiar scent of alcohol and grease hit my nose. The scent that burnt my throat for a month of my life.

"Are you going to give up this time? Or are you going to fight me until you crash?"

If this was an illusion, I wasn't going to waste my energy fighting. "I'm done."

"What? Really?" he asked, perplexed.

"Yeah, I'm done fighting. There's no point."

"What about the speech you gave me a couple weeks ago? Something like, 'Sooner or later, you'll let your guard down. I will get that controller, and the instant they're out of danger, you will pay?'"

"Simply changing tactics," I stated coolly.

Slade glared at me. "You're bleeding."

"What else is new?"

"Go get cleaned up. You'll be no good if you're dead."

I hurried away to the rat hole that was my room. One old rickety mattress, a toilet, and a sink. That's all that was in the room. My reflection in the mirror above the sink showed bruises splayed across my face. I removed my mask and tended to the cut above my temple.

The look on my face was sad. Like a permanent frown was burned on my face. Except, my eyebrows were upturned. This must have been the look on my face on that day. The day that I ran into the team for the first time in weeks.

I had just robbed a building. Ironically, it was Bruce's business building, or at least a branch. I stood outside the building on the roof. Slade had given me specific instructions to come back to the hide out, but I couldn't. I felt so guilty about what I had done, I couldn't move. It was either go to Slade and live with guilt, but save my friends, or turn around and return what I had stolen, but most likely lose my friends.

The decision was taken away from me when the team arrived. They wanted to talk, they wanted know what happened. But I was unable to speak. I was at the mercy of a mad man, and the only thing I could do was fight the ones I cared about.

So I fought. I tried to take it easy on them, just evading attacks and distracting them, but Slade caught on. He was watching and was threatening me through my earpiece. I was to fight to win.

I perched on the edge of the roof, ready to jump and make my get away, but Star floated in front of me with one hand raised, glowing green.

"Stop. Do not move," She ordered.

I did as I was told, staying in the crouched position. My earpiece sprang to life.

"Now's the chance to prove yourself. You have a weapon that they don't. One that they won't be expecting. Shoot her."

The gun on my wrist felt like a hundred pounds, and I reached for it. I pointed it directly at her, my finger shaking as I held the trigger. Her light intensified, her eyes narrowed. We were at a complete standoff.

"I said shoot her!"

Her eyes turned gentle. "Robin, you are my best friend. I cannot live in a world where we must fight. If you are truly evil, then go ahead, do what you must." She lowered her hand and waited.

"Starfire, no…" I whispered.

Suddenly, my ears rang with a high pitched squeal. "I gave you an order! If you won't kill her, I will!"

Star fell to the roof, her body seizing, foam bubbling from her lips. I looked to the rest of my former team, they were all doing the same.

I took Star up in my arms. "Slade! Stop! Please!" I shouted.

"If you want to save them, use the gun. That is your only option."

Gently, I laid her down. Her tiny hand reached out for me. "R-Robin…"

"I'm sorry…"

I shot her.

I heard Slade smirk. "That's my boy."

The memory was painful. A tragic reminder of my betrayal to my friends. They had a hard time forgiving and trusting me when I came home. Star even apologized to me, for doubting me. I thanked her for still persevering, even against the odds. No one would have so willingly laid down their life for a friend's.

"John 15:13," I said to myself.

Out of nowhere, a pain gripped my chest. I braced myself against the porcelain in front of me, biting back a shout. Slade was up to something.

"SLADE!" I shouted. "Turn your fricken' machine off! You're killing me!"

There was no reply. I gripped my chest as the pain intensified. It was like nothing I had ever felt before.

That's right, this was all a dream. The Psions must have been doing something to me. I had to wake up. So far, everything had felt extremely real, so there was nothing to focus on to wake up.

"WAKE UP!" I shouted. I felt like I was yelling at the wall.

Then I had an idea. How good of an idea it was, I wasn't sure, but I grabbed the sides of the sink. I threw my head back, and then forcefully threw it forward to hit the edge. Before I felt impact, I woke to blinding light.

"I'm awake!" I shouted.

The strange robots looked at each other and then back at me. They said nothing. The pain in my chest was still present. I gulped as realization dawned on me. In the robot's pinchers were different types of tools. Knifes, probes, and other foreign utensils. On the table next them sat what looked like part of a rib cage.

All the blood left my face. I slowly looked down to see my heart beating frantically in my chest. My heart, right there, visible! I choked out a laugh in disbelief.

"I'm still dreaming right?"

" _What makes you say that?_ "

I screamed. "Get me out of here! Someone help me! Starfire!"

" _You think someone will come? Do you miss your master?_ "

…

" _Earthling,"_  I heard a gruff voice say. The sweet sound of a guard. I blinked open quickly to see him staring at me. " _You passed out, you aren't sick are you?_ " he asked, his words hinting at concern.

" _Fine…Psion…chest…_ "

" _What in Zorg's name are you talking about?_ " He lifted me and threw me over his shoulder.

I looked at my surroundings, and I was in a part of the ship that I didn't recognize. The guard was waiting outside of a big door. Another Gordanian came out and met with us.

" _How's the Tamaranian?_ " the one holding me asked.

" _Not good. I wish we had detected it sooner. The Azardians will kill us._ "

" _Oh well, it's a shame, she was a great warrior. But, that's how it's got to be._ "

The Gordanian set me on my feet, supporting me with one arm. " _What does the Princess call you?_ "

"Robin."

" _Got to admit, she trained him well._ "

" _What…happen?_ " I asked looking up to them.

" _Take him in, he might as well say goodbye._ "

"Wait, what? What's going on? What do you mean, goodbye!?" My Hessen went down the toilet.

They led me into the room and let go of my arm, leaving me alone. There was a long line of beds along the wall. Only one was occupied. It looked like an infirmary.

"Oh no…" I rushed to the bedside. My angel laid in suspension. Her curly red hair framed her face. Her beautiful jade eyes were closed to the world. "Star? Are you alright?"

She did not respond. I swept the hair from her face.

"Please Star, wake up. I don't know if this is reality or a dream."

Still, she laid in silence. No breath, no pulse.

"No…Star, you don't need to breathe right?! And your heart is just located in a different place, right? Right?!" I took her face into my hands. "Please Starfire! I don't know what's going on! If this is a dream, you can wake up. Get up. Damn it, Star! I need you!"

I heard a cracking sound. Looking down, I saw her skin starting to crystallize. I gripped and tried to peel it off. "Stop! No no no!" The green stone crawled up and started to cover her face.

Just like that. She was gone.

"This isn't happening…"

The door opened and the guards came in. " _Alright, get him out of here. There's already been an offer on Xebyon._ "

" _What about the Tamaranian?_ "

" _Send it to the hull. There they can break it down in blades and sell it._ "

"Oh no you don't!" I said with tears in my eyes while clutching her. "You send her back to Tamaran, or even better, I'll take her back with me to earth!"

" _I think he's gone to into shock. He may need a brain wipe_."

" _Nah, just smack him around a bit. He'll whip into shape._ "

"NO!"

The Gordanian grabbed me and pulled me away. My fingers slipped from her arm. "Wait! Star! Uh…" What were the words? " **Glike** … **gimmer** … **glike** … **gimmer!** " 'I…you…I…you' What was the word for love? I couldn't get it!

" _Hush him up!_ "

The guard that had me brought his fist back and hit me in the face.

…

I fell onto the floor with an 'ouf!' The floor was carpeted, and the room was warm and quiet.

"Where am I?" I sat up and rubbed my head. I had fallen out of what looked like a hammock. In fact, it was a hammock. It was small in size and under it was another one, larger, maybe able to fit two people. The room was small. One door and one window. There was a couch, a radio, a large rug and a kitchenette. A sink and a mirror were on the far wall. No bathroom. The room was warm and familiar.

"I've been here before…"

"Richard! It's show time! What are you doing?" A man looked in the door, but his face was concealed in shadow.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, my voice unnaturally high.

"Well come on, space case! It's our first night in town! Grand opening!" He held the door open for me. I picked myself off the floor and went to him. I was short…well, shorter than I was normally.

"Glad to see you're warming up to your new costume. I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but we're on a budget."

I looked down to my so-called 'costume'. Green tights, red tunic, and a yellow 'R' on my chest. Now I remembered, this was my acrobatics costume. Colorful, like a Robin's.

"I like it." I smiled up at the man, now recognizing him as my father.

"Dick, what's wrong?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Hmm?" Unconsciously, I started crying. "Oh…It's nothing."

"Nervous?" he smiled. That's not what it was. I was happy to see him again, but I knew what was going to happen. I wished that I could change these visions.

"Yeah…" I lied.

"It's okay, Champ." He lifted me and had me sit on his shoulders. "I'm sure Batman gets nervous from time to time."

"No way! He's Batman!" I said, my childish tone ringing in my voice.

We walked a small path away from my former home, a box car, to an enormous tent. In front, a large sign indicated our location. Haley's Circus 2000,  _The Greatest Show on Earth_. That may have been true on that night, but these days, Haley's is a second rate show. The clowns were always drunk, and the animals were emaciated.

Everything was so vividly real. The sounds of trumpets and drums, the smell of popcorn and hot peanuts, the feeling of excitement radiating from the crowd. I actually  _was_ nervous. I couldn't remember the last time I truly performed. The show had already started and the ring master, Haley, was announcing the lion tamer and his wife. Next, the three clown brothers would come out and perform their routine.

Then it was our turn. I gulped as the lights went down. My father nudged me to climb the ladder to the platform. My dad was in front, my mom on a different platform. The lights came back on, darting across the tent.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I'm proud to present the greatest acrobatic family in the world! Performing their routine without the use of a safety net, I give you…" There was a drum roll. "…The Flying Graysons!"

The crowd cheered as the band struck up. My mom and dad glided out on the trapeze, heading toward each other. At the halfway point, my mom flipped and was caught by my dad. The routine would last a bit longer before I went out. I searched the crowd for a face. If this was the night that I thought it was, he would be here.

Bruce. Sure enough, I saw him sitting by himself, looking like he was angry at the world. Typical. I waved to him. He looked at me strangely, and then waved back.

"And now the youngest Grayson!" I waited at the edge of the platform with baited breath. Maybe since this was a dream, everything would be all right. Maybe things would be different this time. Maybe I wouldn't go through that loss again, I'd get to see what my life could have been.

I'd never want to wake up. My mom came swinging back to me, her arms outstretched, waiting to catch me. A bright smile beamed on her face, pride spilling out. My heart raced. This was it, this was a new beginning! The end to the nightmare.

Creak.

Clatter.

Snap.

"Richard…" Her smile dropped. No!

"Mama!" I cried in my childish state. Down they fell, the ending I was dreading. "NO!" I was not going to let them go, not this time. I jumped off the platform and dove after them. It wasn't scary, I'd done it dozens of times, except Starfire usually swooped in at the last second. This time though, there was no angel to catch me, no safety net, just the cold, hard, unforgiving ground.

I was finger tips away from my mom's hand. I almost had it, but…

…

I crashed into water. Deep inky water. I sunk, the air knocked out of me, thoughts jumping around inside my mind.

 _What's going on? Where's Starfire? I want to go home. I don't know where I am. When will this stop? I want this all to just…stop_.

_A dream lasts only a moment in this thing we call life. Dreams as dark as smoke or soft enough for a butter knife._

_In dreams no pain is real, and we need not be afraid, for only for a moment do we in dreams feel dismayed._

_Then when the moment ends and real life does begin, you can see the reality of the truth you live in._

_In dreams, the thing call fear need not exist, for nothing happens if you choose to resist._

_It is in your sleeping fights and battles that we see one's true mettle._

_True identity in dreams come alive, the person whom to hide we strive._

_What if life were but a dream?_

_We need not fear, for it lasts only a moment and our waking is near._

_What if this dream of a moment decided our fate? And how we are in it dictates where we wake?_

_This dream of a life will soon end and we'll see that we feared for a moment and now wake for eternity._

A warm feeling sweltered in my hand. A smile? A giggle? Bright green eyes.

"Robin. It is all over now…"

…

" _Are you waking up?_ "

I blinked in the quietness. Another dream? It had to be, there was no way…

" _Would you like to go back now?_ "

I nodded in earnest. My face still showed on the monitor, tear stained cheeks and tired eyes. The bindings that held me let go and I stood wearily. For being asleep for a few hours, I was exhausted. I only took a few steps before I stumbled and fell.

" _Why, can't you walk?_ " Enough with the probing questions.

The Gordanians came in soon after to take me back. " _Great Zorg! He looks terrible!_ "

" _He requires nourishment. The dissection was a success._ "

" _What did you do to him?! Koriand'r will kill all_   _of us for his mistreatment!_ "

" _We_   _have performed a standard cervical thoracic paravertebral resection_."

" _All of it?_ "

" _What we could._ "

The guard shook his head and picked me up. Up until now, I had not realized that my shirt and torque had been removed. When he grabbed me, I felt sore.

" _This is not my fault…this is not my fault…_ " he mumbled to himself. " _Alright, let's get you back to your master._ "

I felt so weak that I about passed out in his grasp. The last thing I saw as we left the room was a stack of bones on the table.

As soon as the door to the cell opened, Starfire was screaming at the guard.

" _Where has he been?! What has happened to him!? I will kill whoever has done this!_ "

" _Don't take your anger out on me Tamaran! I did nothing to him!_ " he shot back. " _I'll be back soon with food for him._ " He set me down on my mattress and pulled a blanket up around me. Luckily, he didn't bother tethering me.

She glared at him as he reached the door. He turned back to her. " _I'm sorry. He isn't really your pet is he? He's your friend._ "

" _My best friend,_ " she snapped.

"I wish I could let you out to care for him…but I'm not allowed to do that. I'll do my best though. That I swear." He put his hand over his chest.

She looked in shock as he gave a sympathetic smile and left.

I fainted.


	6. Russian Roulette

Whatever the Psion had done to me, it was driving me mad. I knew I had a fever, since I was so cold, yet sweating. I couldn't eat; my body rejected everything I took in. The worst part of it all was the random stitches all over my torso. Some on my chest, some on my sides, all in straight designs, as if I was sutured with a sewing machine.

Nightmares plagued my sleep. I woke up regularly, scaring Starfire.

" _Robin…my friend, what has happened to you_?" She asked herself more than me.

" **Slugma** … **Dina** … **Thoma** …" 'Help, sick, hurt.' Hopefully she could get a good idea of what was wrong.

" _I can see you are in pain. What did they do to you_?"

" **Druma Shlorvaks** … **Kenorf'ka'd** … **Fug'l'd** … **Koriand'r** … **dingo sorna** …" 'Bad dreams, parents, friends, Koriand'r, they kill.' I spoke with tears. " **Hall Blorta**!" 'Remove bones.'

I heard her restraints creak. I looked to her face that was seething with anger.

" **Glik'hog hum't haus sorna darf**!" 'I'm going to kill them.'

I shook my head. " **Meina** … **Hootntaini** … **Tullna** …" 'Stay happy, safe." Then I groaned as I fell over in pain.

" _Robin_!"

"Make it stop!" I screamed. Images flashed in front of my face, my friends, Star, the Psions, Slade, the Gordanians, Bruce…everything just rapidly spun. "Starfire!  **SLUGMA**!"

" _Gone_!" Voices of the other prisoners echoed down the hall.

" _Robin, you must calm down! They will hear you_!"

"I can't!  **Gimmer** … **Garth stug** …" I cried as I covered my head. It was hard enough to keep up my broken Tamaranian.

" _Raven has taught me the art of meditation. You need to clear your thoughts, and think on things pure and holy._ "

" _How_ … _clear head_ …?"

" _I repeat a mantra back to myself. Peace, quiet, tranquility_."

"Peace…quiet…tranquility…peace…quiet…" I saw a Psion holding a crowbar. " _Not working_!" I blinked open to escape the vision.

" _Gone_!"

" _What they say_?"

She shook her head. " _Pay no attention; they are referring to your mind_."

" _My mind_ … _as in_ … _my mind is_ … _gone_?"

" _It happens here_ … _It happened to me. They can hear you screaming_."

" _I am not_ … _mind_ … _sane_ …no…"

" _Try singing_ ," she offered. " _If you focus on the lyrics and the notes, you may not be able to think of other things._ "

" _Gone_!" they echoed outside again.

What was the last thing I listened to? I think Victor had a CD playing in the car, but what was it? Some English preppy falsetto band. I tapped my foot in a steady beat.

"I'm spiraling down, I've been inside too long …" I started out as a whisper. "I gotta get outside, breathe again …" I took a deep breath. "Deliver me because the walls are closing in …I gotta get out, so I can see again… I'm going insane living with this weakness… A storm is ahead, I need the rain upon my face…I like the disturbance, let's bring it all crashing down…At least I feel something…" I kept the beat with my feet. 1,2,3,4…1,2,3,4…

"What is done cannot be undone…" I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. "What is done cannot be undone …"

I stood up, my fever spiking. "Exit…Let's exit this place!" I stomped to the beat, my anger building. "This place!" I shouted as my chest throbbed in pain. I coughed.

"What is done…"

" _Gone_!"

"…cannot be undone."

" _Gone_!"

"Exit!"

" _Gone_!"

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

I tried to breathe, but my breath was shaky. "Star!  _I'm having a_ …AHH…PANIC ATTACK!"

" _Robin_!"

I doubled over as insanity took over. I saw a Psion roll into the room. "Get back! Get back! STAY AWAY!"

" _Robin, there is nothing there_!"

"Make it stop…" I sobbed. I put my head to the ground and covered it with my hands.

I heard immense groaning as Starfire pulled at her restraints. " _Hold on_!"

Only the sounds of metal bending and creaking, and the prisoners outside penetrated my senses. I waited with baited breath for the pain in my chest to subside, but it didn't.

Suddenly, the room glowed red and sirens began to go off. "Robin." Starfire was kneeling in front of me, her arms still bound.

"S-Star…"

" _Look at me_." She took my face into her hands. " _There is nothing wrong, okay? Everything you saw, it was all bad memories. I'm here, okay? I'm here_."

I fell to her chest and hugged her tightly. It was the only contact I'd had with her in days. " _I'm scared_ …"

" _Climb up on my back; I'm going to get you some help_."

I did as I was told, clutching tightly around her neck. In two strides, she was in front of the door. Her hands were exposed and she was able to use her bolts to melt part of the door. After a few minutes of working, she kicked it out and zipped down the hall.

" _Oh Zorg! It's the Tamaranian that's loose_!"

" _Well stop her for X'hal's sake_!"

" _Are you kidding me_!? _I don't want to die_!" The guard abandoned his post, the other following soon after.

" _Weaklings_." She muttered.

I clutched a bit tighter. " **Gimmer** … **selent**.  **Rutha** ,  **Hatchi** … **Ecth**." 'I'm sorry. Weak, worry. Leave.'

" **Gimmer douga stug ecth glike**!  **Kust'g soren nei york'f**!" 'I will not leave you. Don't think like that.'

" **Gurb** ,  **Vy ecth bomumna**.  **Bormains**." 'No, we leave now. Escape.'

" **Stug hashite vy cheekybart thar dina glike**." 'Not until we know what ails you.'

" **T-Thouvaste** …" 'Thank you.'

She stopped another guard before he ran off. " _Where are the Psions_!?"

" _I'll lead you to them_ … _just_ …" Then he noticed me, the weak and fragile pet. " _Oh_ ,  _uh_ … _follow me_."

The guard hesitantly opened a door, inside a Psion was operating on a prisoner. The fellow looked to be in worse shape than I was.

" _Why have you interrupted_?" The robot spoke, its head turning all the way around.

" _They seek audience with you_ ," the guard spilled out before leaving.

The Psion rolled towards us, observing in curiosity. I buried my face in Star's hair.

" _Ah, the Tamaranian Princess, Koriand'r. I hardly recognized you. You have grown_."

" _I suppose I have_." She spoke solemnly.

" _You and your sister are still considered our greatest achievements. You know, we strive to better our specimens, as well as find out as much as we can about them_." His head cocked to the side. " _Like with your…pet. He proved to be most informative. From reading his memories, we have come to learn about the planet where you have resided. A backwater dump. Hardly worth exploring ourselves_."

I sighed in relief. At least I hadn't caused an alien invasion.

" _What did you do to him_?" she asked sternly. " _As long as I have known him, I have never seen him this weak_."

" _We merely replayed his memories for him. And threw in some other possibilities of occurrences that may happen in the future to see how he would react_."

I felt her tense. " _And what of the stitching_?"

" _In our attempt to enhance his systems, we replaced his thoracic, pelvic, vertebral, and cervical skeletal system. Humans were equipped with fragile and impractical framework, so we remedied that with Iridium die cast replicas of the bones. It is not harmful to humans and it will be literally impossible for him to break one of these bones. Of course, we had to take special precautions when replacing his spinal cord, the nerves went undamaged_."

" _So, you are telling me that you replaced all of his bones with metal_!?"

" _Not all of them, since he still needs the natural ones to create blood cells. There should be no complications, and he will be as flexible as ever. We saw his fight during the tournament. It would be a shame to ruin such a talent_."

" _I am sure it would be_ ," she spoke with malice.

The Psion turned its back to us. " _Now go, we have other things to attend to_."

" _NO! You will fix what is wrong with him_!"

" _Foolish Troq, we have already fixed him_."

I heard her growl, but before she attacked, she let out a scream of pain. I let go of her back and managed to catch her right before she hit the ground. A guard stood behind with a metal pole, an electric current glowing at the end.

" _Take the earthling to cell block eight_ ," the head guard spoke.

" _And the Tamaranian_?"

" _I'm beginning to think there is nothing to hold her. But without her little pet, she should be more docile. Put her in the high crimes containment sector_."

The guards looked at each other and then back at him. " _Are you sure_?"

" _What! Ever since that silly tournament, you all have been acting like she's an innocent child! She's not! May I remind you the number of Gordanian deaths she and her sister are responsible for! Do not underestimate her. Or the earthling for that matter_."

" _But sir…she's changed. She could have broken out at any time, but she chose to leave only when her pet was ill_."

" _Idiots. A Troq is always a Troq_."

One guard grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. The other took Starfire. My heart sunk. I suddenly had a horrible feeling that I would never see Kori again, but worse, I would never see earth again.

The hallway they took me down was dark, only lit with a red light. At the other end, they opened a cell and shoved me in, closing the door quickly behind me. They hadn't bothered to re-tether me. The room was black, the only light coming from a slit in the door.

Suddenly, I felt a hot breath on my collar. I turned slowly to see a pair of yellow eyes and a couple of sharp fangs glowing at me. I backed up slowly, only to bump into another one, taller than the last. I gulped. The whole cell was full of towering creatures.

" _He is not of Tamaran...he lacks the red hair, and his skin is white_ ," one whispered in the back.

" _A tiny thing. Looks as if he's lost his mind_."

" _Must be rare or valuable if they've kept him so long_."

" _Psions be damned_."

" _Help_..." I squeaked out. " _Slugma_ …"

"Can I do za helping you?" A husky voice spoke through the darkness.

"You speak English?!" I asked hopefully. Someone that I could finally communicate with!

"Can I." A tall, lean creature stepped into the dim light from the door. His skin was green, and he wore purple eye coverings, much like the ones Star was forced to wear. He had a humanoid figure, but was many feet taller than I. "Vot your name little von?" He spoke with a strange accent.

"R-Robin."

"Vare on earth you reside?"

"I lived in California...in The US."

"I zee." He pressed a few buttons on a keypad on his chest and his form morphed into a man. Brown wavy hair, brown eyes, and clothes from the 1920's. He looked to be around 40 years old. "On my planet, they do the calling me X-LAR 985, on Earth I vas Professor Tuor Chizhikov. I lived in Moscow for many year, then Vales vare I learned English."

"Thank X'hal!" Star was rubbing off on me. "Why did they put me in here?"

"Zis is vare guards put specimens from Psions. Vons who have lost their minds. If you are in here, you must be ill."

I stayed quiet, not wanting to announce my condition to this stranger. I scooted away and leaned against the door, hiding in the shadows.

"Not to vorry, comrade. I here to help, I vas professor of psychology. I help all zose in here, most are of sound mind."

"Most?"

"Zare are few which do not talk."

"So they aren't going to eat me?" I gestured to the other cellmates.

"Net! Zey do no such thing. You have no vorries." He sat down next to me, cross legged. Other beasts surrounded us, but in a comfortable way. I felt secure, like I was in a support group. "My suit emulates hessen. Zey understand us, wish to listen, to help."

I looked at their earnest faces. My eyes finally had adjusted to the dark and I could see them more clearly. Many were very terrifying, but not threatening. I sighed to relax.

"Vai do you not tell us your story, yes comrade?"

"Well…It started maybe about a month ago. Koriand'r and I were in a gang fight…" I proceeded to tell them the story of how we had arrived and what had happened.

Maybe an hour later, the door opened behind me and I immediately scurried to the corner. The guards kicked a couple of trays of food into the cell. They reeked of garlic so I knew I wouldn't be eating.

"Still skittish. Did you try meditating?"

I gave a squeamish laugh. "Yeah, totally didn't work."

"I hear in your voice, something is wrong?"

I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Look, I really appreciate you trying to help me, but I'm just really concerned for St-Koriand'r."

He laughed. "Zere is no reason to vorry! She very strong! Besides, you cannot help her if you cannot help yourself."

"Fine." I started reciting my life back at the circus, when I saw my parents die; then went into the visions the Psions had inflicted on me. My small audience listened in interest and even asked a few questions.

"So your father, he vas officer?"

"I guess you could say that…He's like twenty levels above a policeman, he's what we call a superhero."

"Superhero?"

"Yeah, you know, running around in spandex and a cape, saving people from evil?"

He gave me a blank look and I remembered that superheroes weren't invented until the 1930's. My definition made him sound…about out of his mind.

"Never mind."

"You have said very little of your…brat, Jason vas it?"

"You mean my brother? Well, he's not really my brother. I only knew him a little bit."

"You speak as if he has passed. You vere boz raised by Bruce, yes?"

"Yeah, after I ran away from home, Bruce found him. Ironically, he was stealing the tires off our Lamborghini."

"Your vot?"

"Our car."

"Oh, he decided to take in za boy?"

"Yeah, something about trying to keep him off the streets and set him in the right direction."

"So vot happened?"

I sat up. "Ugh! It was so dumb! Bruce and Jason had a lead on two convicts, so they decided to split up; Bruce going after the violent dangerous one and Jason after the harmless drug addict. But things got turned around and by time Bruce realized his mistake, Jason was already dead."

A sympathetic sigh went up through the small crowd. Tuor was quiet a moment before speaking. "How vas he killed?"

"Uh, the man hit him with a crowbar repeatedly."

"Do you have fear of crowbars?"

"Well…" Truthfully, I hadn't really thought about it that much but the Joker was still out there and knew I was affiliated with Bruce. "Maybe."

"Do your friends know zis? Zat your brother vas killed?"

"No…I never said anything about it…I never even told them I had a brother."

"So Koriand'r does not know?"

"No…"

"You are not trusting her enough."

"That's how Bruce raised me! It was hard enough trying to not fall in love with her, but…the past should just stay in the past."

"And zat is vai you are talking about it now?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but then snapped it shut.

"Sometimes vi need to look back, learn from our mistakes. You feel guilt, do you not? You have experienced more than most earthlings your age. But you destroy yourself if you lock it away. Your pain is very real, strength zat comes from it is so, too."

"And how do I get strength from things that happened years ago?"

"Rely not upon your own understanding. But have faith to press forward."

"This is going to be a long night, isn't it?"

"I can only vurk viz vot you give me," he smiled.


	7. We Can Still Have Fun

I had been in the new cell for five days. Within that period of time, Tuor had helped me claim back the sanity that I had not had since being on Earth. I felt stronger. Braver. This time, I would find a way out, and save Starfire. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do that, but I was tired of being the victim.

I was doing push ups, while some of my cellmates observed me. "…67…68…69…70…" Apparently, they were not used to this sort of exercise. Someone had even joined me, but had only gotten to twenty before giving up. It frustrated me that I was going the rate that I was; I was used to going faster, for longer. Oh well, I hadn't done much of anything active in a couple weeks.

"Robin, vot are you up to?"

"I'm building up my strength. I want to be in tip top form when I escape."

A hearty laugh shook the cell and caused to fall flat on my face. "You can not escape! Is impossible!"

" _No one escapes_." Someone added in.

"Oh yeah? Then explain how I met Kori  _after_  she was captured."

Another laugh. "She is exception to rule. She and her sister."

"Yes," I concluded, proud of my victory. "They went their separate ways. Kori coming to earth and meeting me, and Komand'r going off and robbing the Centari moons of a precious jewel, which she later gave to Kori in an attempt to have her take her place in intergalactic prison. Which did not work, mind you."

" _What a royal_   **grimplork**."

I laughed. "So 'no one escapes' is a false statement. Because Kori is a somebody."

"Okay! But cut your nose, comrade. Escape is extremely, terribly, painfully difficult!"

"Don't underestimate me." I smiled. I had been much more content in this cell then I had been in the other one, but I was still extremely worried for Starfire. Bringing her up in conversation made me start thinking about her again. I returned to my push ups in an attempt to think on other things.

"You are fooling no one Robin. It is alright to be vorried."

"Worry is a weakness." I recited. "I know she can take care of herself."

"You know, but do you believe?"

I rested at the peak of my rep. "No. Is it that obvious?"

"Is written all over your face."

I continued. "Tuor…They said they were putting her in the high crimes containment unit. Is that…bad?" I recalled the way the guards doubted their orders.

"I am unsure, but someone here will know. You follow." He walked away.

I hopped to my feet and walked quickly behind. We moved farther back into the cell then I had been before. Two slots illuminated a small sector of the room, and sitting in front of one was a girl. She was breathtakingly beautiful as her body was made completely out of clear crystal.

"This young lady spent some time in high crimes unit, her body made of diamonds, cut through everything else."

"Amazing!" I admired as the light sparkled off of her.

"There is but one problem."

"And that is…?"

"She mute!"

I let out a frustrated grunt, and then sighed. "Will ASL work?" I asked.

Tuor shrugged.

I believed it was paying off to have a mute on the team, Jericho kept up my practice in sign language. I signed, 'Hello, my name is R-I-C-H-A-R-D.'

She waved and began signing off much more rapidly then I could.

"She says her name is Dianna, and she is happy that someone can understand her."

"Ah! Good."

"Do you think you could tell me what the high crimes unit is like?" I asked Dianna.

She lowered her head, and raised her hands. "A horrible place," She signed. "They lock your arms to your chest, so it is hard to breathe. Only your head is exposed from a thick metal body clamp, and they make you wear a sedation mask to keep calm. Your eyes are blindfolded, and the whole room is dark, no sunlight can come in."

"And how about the guards?"

"There is not much need for guards, as there are cameras and automatic weapons."

I sighed as I scratched my head. Kori's forte was hand to hand combat. Her powers were controlled by emotions and her strength came from the sun. If she was calm, she wouldn't be able to get up the strength needed to get out.

Dianna placed her cold hand on my shoulder. "Is there someone in there whom you wish to get out?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea how." I answered.

"Do not worry, there is always a way." She took my hands and waved them in front of me. Then she took her index fingers and pulled them down her cheeks, and then made a 'U' shape with her pinkies in front of her face. 'Don't cry, be happy.'

"Thank you Dianna." I smiled.

I spent the next few hours speaking with her. She must have been incredibly lonely being here without anyone to speak to. She reminded me of Raven, back at home. Quiet, reserved, polite, very intelligent and yet there was a sense of sarcasm when she signed things. Speaking with her got my mind off of Star for a little while, and for that, I was grateful. Tuor joined us for awhile and learned some basic signs. It warmed my heart to know that he was trying to break their language barrier. That way, when I left, I wouldn't feel bad about leaving her behind.

A siren sounded.

" _Someone's loose!_ " A monster shouted from the back. A cheer went up through the small crowd.

"Why are they happy?" I asked Tuor.

"You should know most inmates are not criminals. Ship like zoo, if you get out, vi happy for you." He explained. Made sense. I heard a loud bang and the ship briefly shook. "Seems zat someone getting out today, yes?" Another bang and the power went out.

 _Now's the perfect time to escape!_  I thought. I maneuvered through the cell, passing my cell mates. Coming up to the door, I pulled at the edges, trying to figure out how to open the dumb thing.

" _It's not going to work. Since the power's out, the doors can't be opened_." A prisoner said next to me, noticing my strain. Well, that wasn't what I was hoping for. I sat with my back against the door. There had to be some other way to get out. Maybe there was a ventilation system? That could be risky, besides, the ceiling was too high for me. I tapped my finger on my chin. I could probably get some of the other cell mates to help me open the door, but I wanted to sneak out. Still…

I stood up about to divulge my plan, when the ship suddenly shook and made me fall over.

A voice echoed from a couple of corridors away. " **KEBER STO, RUTHA'T! BAY BESTIST JZORK!** " 'Stand down, weaklings. Or fight me.' I'd recognize that Tamaranian anywhere.

"STARFIRE!" I shouted, my mouth near the crack of the door.

A pounding sound came from the end of the hall. " _Will it hold?_ " A guard asked.

" _It better, there's nothing else we can do_."

"Zat is your friend coming?" Tuor asked.

"I believe it is. Do you know anyone else that could scare the guards so much?"

"Not many."

The noise down the hall grew louder and louder. At this point, Star was shouting obscenities instead of insults. I didn't know she had it in her to talk so foul. We heard guards running down the hall towards her, yelling at each other.

" _Who thought that thing would hold her?! She escaped last time_."

" _It didn't help that you went down there to taunt her!_ "

" _I was the one who said not to separate her from the Earthling!_ "

" _Where is it now?_ "

The other guard was quiet.

" _You idiot! If she goes to get him out, they'll all escape!"_

Suddenly all noise stopped. Then there was a massive scream that hurt everyone's ears, followed by the sound of clattering metal.

" **VORGY BOR FLUG HAUS JZORK!** " 'Give him back to me.' So it would seem that she was angry.

" _Fire at will! Don't let her leave the ship alive!_ " That command was followed by weapons being fired.

"STAR!" I screamed.

"ROBIN!?" She answered. " **THOOT VON BOO!?** " 'Where is he?'

"Star!" I called again. I heard large thumps echo through the hall as her screams pierced the air.

" **KORIAND'R**!" Someone else shouted from inside the cell. Soon everyone was calling for her. Silence in the hall.

The door suddenly became dented, in the shape of a foot. Two more kicks, and it was open. She broke at titanium door as if it was aluminum. My cell mates cheered as she entered calmly, her eyes glowing behind her glasses.

" **Thoot von boo?** " She asked panting.

I walked into the light and smiled at her. In response she pouted, raising her wrists where large cuffs kept her secured. I reached for my utility belt that she was wearing and pulled out a lock pick. After a few moments, they fell with a clang to the ground. I had a moment of deja vu and wondered if she was going to kiss me or not.

She didn't, but she pulled me into a bone crushing hug, lifting me off the ground. " **GLIKE HOG OKMAR HOOTNTAINI GIMMER HATH ZOTA!** " 'I am so happy you are okay.' Good to know, but I wouldn't be okay if she didn't put me down soon. It was getting hard to breathe.

" **Nochta haus thig gimmer tullna**." 'Glad to have you safe.' I replied, hugging her back.

"I hate to interrupt your reunion, but now be good time to make with the haste." Tuor spoke, changing back into his alien form. " _For us all_." We looked back to see only a few prisoners left in the cell, and they were on the verge of leaving.

Starfire looked at me questioningly.

" **Vy ecth. Bomumna**." 'We leave. Now.'

A quick look of panic crossed over her features.

" _Something wrong?_ "

She shook her head, ridding herself of the thought. " _No, nothing is wrong, never mind_." She cleared her throat. " _There are escape pods on the lower floor. We will have to be quick, I do not wish to endanger you anymore then I already have_." She grabbed my wrist and took off running.

I sighed. So much for me saving her this time.

I ran to keep up with her. She had my arm in her iron grip and the Lord knows she would rip it off I fell back. She moved swiftly, but carefully. The hallways were slowly flashing red and guards were no where to be found. It was eerie.

" _I have taken out most of the guards, but I believe the remaining ones are coming up with someway to stop me._ "

She turned a corner sharply, then stepped backwards, firmly yanking me behind her.

"What gives!?" I whispered sharply.

She clapped her hand over my mouth. " _Pas tous là_." She whispered in reply, pointing to the hall in front of us. A soldier stood in place, an enormous blade slung over his shoulder. He had a long snout like an alligator, but it was skinny like a bird. He was very much in shape, but his rips were showing. His eyes darted around, and they were a glowing yellow. Just his appearance gave me chills.

" _He's one of the Warlords of Okaara. Ten Tamaranians went to train under him, only my sister and I survived. His name means 'not all there' as in; he has no scruples and will not hesitate to kill for fun. I do not understand why he is here, but we will find another way to the escape pods, there is no way I'm endangering you by going up against him._ " She explained.

I took one last look at the reptilian warrior and shivered. I definitely didn't want to run into him again.

She turned around we went back down the hall. I could feel her hand shaking in mine. Star always hated sneaking around. That was one of the things she despised the most about our job. Fortunately, that was my favorite part, and my specialty. We played a game once, a series of pranks on Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven. Of course, they were all royally pissed afterwards, but it helped Star tame the fear of the dark, and her skills in sneaking. Maybe bringing it up would ease her. I stepped up next to her and gripped her hand tighter. " _First rule…of game in dark_."

She looked perplexed for a moment, and then realization dawned on her. " _There is always darkness_ …" I nodded and tugged her down a darker corridor. A guard passed, but no evidence of him seeing us appeared on his face.

" _Second rule_."

" _You can do practically anything when you're not seen_." She recited.

I nodded and took off my shoe. Promptly, I chucked it, and it hit the guard square in the head. He spun quickly.

" _WHO'S THERE!?_ "

I motioned her to stay back, while I slipped forward. My dark uniform and hair helped blend me into the walls. I waited for the light to blink out and snuck up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned while I danced around him. I held up three fingers as the guard passed the hall.

" _You're always more effective when you do the same thing in different spots._ "

I waited for the light to go out and then sprung across the hall on my hands, grabbing my boot as I did so, and hid behind a ledge.

I rammed my fist back and made a loud bang from the wall. The guard jumped. I couldn't see Starfire because of the darkness, but I knew she was probably holding in a giggle. The guard came steadily my direction. As he was right in front of me, I held my fist up. She saw the gesture and struck the wall she was hiding behind and caused an even louder bang. The guard ignited his weapon, letting the tip spark as he went back towards Star.

" _Rule number four: Even if you're not prepared, the dark can make you seem prepared_." She whispered.

The Gordanian must have heard her, because I heard a swift intake of breath. " _Prisoner! Get back to your cell! The inmate that escaped is dangerous, and your return is for your own safety!_ " He called to her, still not seeing her. He crept closer still, and just went he was looking right at her, I held up my hand for the last rule.

" _The dark can only help you so much_." Her eyes glowed green.

" _TAMARANIAN!_ " He shouted and took off in a sprint down the hall.

I released a thunderous guffaw as he screamed. Star came out from her hiding place and grabbed my arm.

" _Oh that was fun! I have not laughed since we have gotten captured. Thank you._ "

I smiled and ushered her forward.

The rest of our trip was relatively easy. We ran into another guard, and we scared him just the same as the first one. I actually managed to swipe his blade from his belt and sliced an 'R' into the back of his uniform.

We reached the docks for the pods and I jumped in a small one. " _Quick! Guards come!_ " I commanded.

She looked back determined.

"Star?"

I saw her sigh as she climbed in the pod. I watched her carefully, suspicious. She did some fiddling on the controls and then suddenly looked at me. "Robin _, I can no longer ask you to put your life on the line. I have something that needs to be done, and I am afraid that you…are not equipped for the task_." She hugged me. " _Goodbye dear friend. If all goes well, I will come home soon._ "

I pulled away in shock. "What!"

She pressed a button on the console, vaulted out of the pod, and slammed the door shut.

"Star!? What are you talking about!? Get back here!" I tried to open the door, but she held it shut.

She mouthed something and kissed the glass of the window.

"Stop! Starfire!" I pounded on the window. A door closed off the docking station, she still stared at me through the small window. Her face was sad, but a diminutive smile graced her face. The pod floated away from the docking station.

" _Launch sequence initiated, auto pilot engaged._ "

There was nothing I could do, I found myself just a few feet away from the most important person in the world to me. We were separated by space itself. As the jets on the pod ignited, she lowered her head, turned, and walked away. Her ruby red hair flowed in a trail behind her, waving farewell.


	8. Tricks and Traps

Pardon my French, but I was royally pissed. Not just the 'go stand in a corner and brood for an hour' kind of mad, but a 'watch out, he's loaded' kind of mad. I had broken the control panel that had been in front of me with my furious fist. Hopefully, it wasn't important. I hadn't spiraled out of control yet, so that was a good thing. She honestly thought I couldn't handle myself? Okay, sure, I had been sick the first half of our stay and insane for the second half, but I had it now! She'd probably kill me if I went back. She probably just needed to do something small and unexciting.

"I'm going back." I flipped off the auto pilot and took control. Thanks to Batman's negligence to proper ages for driving, I learned to pilot eons ago. The controls looked familiar to those of a jet, and it almost like the interface for Turbo Races 3.

I had wiped the floor with Beast Boy in that game.

I managed to turn the pod around. Next was to locate the ship; not a hard feat, the thing was florpin' huge, and then avoid crashing into it. Using my amazing skills, I brought the pod up underneath the ship to avoid being spotted from the bridge on top. The pod slipped back into the dock where it had launched from. The door opened and I pulled the key from the ignition. We would need the pod to leave, and there were still loose prisoners around.

Still no sign of the guards, but there was also no sign of Star, or anyone else for that matter. I didn't want to get mixed up with any guards anyways, I just wanted to find Starfire, help her with whatever she was doing, and get the heck out! I turned the corner a bit too sharp and bumped into someone. I winced.

I heard a snort as said creature turned and looked down at me with piercing yellow eyes.

"Oh…shit…." I mumbled. I had come face to face with Star's mentor, Pas Tous lá. "Uh,  **Nuba** … **soren stug uv jzork** … **forgu dote** … **fug'l** …" 'Hello, think not of me, look for friend.' I croaked squeamishly.

" _And what are you supposed to be? I've eaten enough Tamaranians to know that you're not one of them_."

" **Glike hog h't'k Earthling**." 'I am an Earthling.'

All he said was, " _I've never had Earthling before_." Before he snapped his jaws at me. I jumped and flipped backwards. " _Oh good, fighting makes me hungry_."

Pas Tous lá stood straight, unmoving, waiting to strike. I felt a bead of sweat trail down my brow as I swallowed lucidly. I leaned back with my fists up in a defensive stance.

In a split second, Pas Tous lá shot out his leg and aimed it to kick out my knee. I jumped, bringing my knees up to my chest. While in the air, I shot one leg out in a snap kick while the other landed on the ground. He caught my foot in his hand, and twisted. I didn't flinch, but instead turned my hips away from Pas so my foot was in a natural position. From there, I turned my torso to wind up and used his grip as leverage. My other foot left the ground and almost careened across my opponents face. Almost.

Pas Tous lá had both feet, and before gravity could have its way, he threw me like a discus. I covered my head as I slammed into the wall. I wiped the sweat from my face and coughed as phlegm and blood from my new system was disturbed. I was shaking a bit from adrenaline, and my heart rate was off the charts. If I was going to fight, I would fight hard and make it count.

" _Please, I'm trying to make this easy on you. I believe in a sporting chance. Do me a favor and make this interesting_."

I rocked on my back and kicked forward, pushing to stand. I grit my teeth and growled.

" _Let's see what you have, small one_."

I whipped around and threw a hook kick.

Block. Grab. Punch.

Block. Twist. Drop and punch.

Dodge. Grab. Kick.

Jump. Spin. Sidekick.

Catch. Kick. Knife strike.

Block. Parry. Slap.

The beast grabbed my hand and twisted it behind me, eliciting a yelp from my throat. I fell to my knees. All done in a split second. He kicked me while I was down.

I rolled and jumped back to my feet, my wrist throbbing. I waited for him to come closer, and blocked the oncoming punch with my rear arm. This left his side open, where I turned and delivered a back fist to his ribs, with the drop of my heel. I thought that might be the only hit I would land.

Pas Tous lá rolled his fist that was blocked so that he could grab my arm. With precision, he threw my elbow into a joint lock and cranked me over. I felt my feet leave the ground and watched in horror as my legs came soaring above me, but not at a speed fast enough to catch me. He helped me down by pushing on the back of my head. I lay for a moment, raking my mind for some sort of move.

" _It was a good try, I will admit. And to be fair, I will not eat you. Just kill you_."

Finally, I had an idea. If it didn't work out perfectly, then I was in trouble. I put my weight onto my hands and kicked my foot up. Right on target, I knocked his knife from his belt. I caught it and thrust out to his stomach. Just as I thought, his abdomen was hard, unlike a crocodile. But my main objective was achieved. The strap that held his sword to his back was split, causing the weapon to fall. I was not as interested in the blade as I was in the strap. I kicked the weapon away so he couldn't use it, and wound the strap around my knuckles.

Pas Tous lá had recovered from my blow to his stomach and charged at me, blindly. I waited till the last possible second to evade and jump on top of him. The strap slipped under his chin and I pulled it taunt to lock his jaws. One thing I had learned from watching Animal Planet with Beast Boy was that alligator's jaws were extremely strong…when closing, but were relatively weak when opening. I pulled back on my makeshift reigns and made him fall on his back. He lay there, unmoving. Either I had knocked him out, or he was humiliated. Either way, I hoped they had a camera so I could show the footage to Cyborg. I took the sword for defense and a souvenir. A pair of the glasses they made some of the prisoners wear sat openly on the floor. They most have fallen out of Pas Tous lá's person when I made him fall. So I put them on. Why? Simply because sunglasses increased the 'bad-ass' factor in every action movie I saw.

It was time to get back to the objective at hand. I hurried down the hall, my steps echoing rather loudly against the metal floor. I didn't like it.

" _Did you hear something?_ "

" _Like someone running? It came from this hall_." I heard some guards speak.

Panicking, I looked around. There had to be some where to hide. Two locked cells were at my sides, the floor was solid, and the ceiling…the ceiling! I was standing right under a vent. I pulled the sword from my back and used the tip to unscrew the two points that kept the latch sealed. I caught the screws as they fell to the floor; couldn't have the guards find them and figure things out.

I saw a shadow on the far end of the hall. The guards were almost here. I used my new blade almost as a pole vault as I shot up into the ventilation system and shut the latch behind me.

" _I could have sworn I heard something_."

" _You're just paranoid. All the prisoners are either gone or back in their cells_."

" _What about the Tamaranian?_ "

" _What? You didn't hear? Lord Zagmar tricked her into submission. She's crying like a weak little child up on the bridge._ "

" _Really? Well, I feel a whole lot better now_." The two continued to talk as they went down the hall. They tricked Star and she was helpless. Now, it was my turn. I waited until their voices had disappeared before jumping out of the vent. I progressed through the ship once again.

I was lost. The ship was huge, and I felt like I had just been going around in circles for the last hour. There had to be some way to get to the bridge. What could I do? Well, I had a very large sword strapped to my back. I was wearing sunglasses, and I was shirtless, my torso covered in scars. What were the odds of them recognizing me? Still too high for my tastes, so I looked for a closet.

As I traveled, I saw a cat-like creature dressed in white come out of a room. She was carrying a blanket and she walked down the hall, opposite to me. I peeked in the door, and to my delight, it was a supply closet. I slipped in and turned on the light. On one wall, there were stacks of bedding and prison uniforms. Another wall had all sorts of cleaning supplies. The last wall was covered with different sorts of uniforms. They were folded and lying on shelves, each one labeled. I took different parts and put them together. This shirt with this jacket, these armbands with this neck brace, etc.

I'm sure I looked a bit ridiculous. A black scaly jacket with a short bottom, tight gray pants covered by black metal plates, a copper looking band around my throat, and thick iron cuffs adorned my wrists. My chest was bare, simply because it was uncomfortable wearing something tight on my wounds. I found a pair of platform shoes as well, so I wasn't so short. Now they wouldn't recognize me. At least…I hoped they wouldn't.

I stepped proudly out into the hall, walking coolly. It was only a matter of time until ran into some guards. I breathed deeply. I had been in disguise quite a few times, and I was good at it.

"Slade did not trust you, and you did not trust us." Starfire's words haunted me. Maybe I was too good at disguise.

A group of Gordanians leaned against a wall, chatting with each other. I walked up, trying my best to be nonchalant. They looked at me in question.

" _I'm looking for the bridge_." I spoke in my practiced Hessen.

" _And you are?_ "

" _What? You don't recognize me? I am very offended. Good sir, I am Lord Mumgon, the terrible. I reign from the Planet Nortix, in the Abesto system_."

" _Nortix? Abesto? Never heard of it_."

Well, obviously. I pulled the names out of my butt, after all. " _It is very far away. I do not expect you to know it_."

" _Well, okay, what business do you have on the bridge?_ "

" _I am inquiring of a Tamaranian_."

" _Oh! Yes, sir. This way_."

I followed quietly. I was glad they hadn't asked anymore questions. I had only prepared myself for so many and had rehearsed my answers over and over in my head. I prepared for what laid ahead.

They escorted me to an elevator, and I had to mentally kick myself. Of course, they take the elevator to the bridge in Star Wars in at least 3 ships. I hid my irritation as I rode up, slightly squished between the two lizard men. We arrived on deck. Gordanians were everywhere, and it made me a little nervous.

" _My Lord, this is…um…Lord Mumgon_."

" _The terrible_." I added.

" _Yes, of Nortix. He's here to inquire about the Troq_."

The Captain of the ship turned around and surveyed me, eyebrow raised. " _Where?_ "

" _Nortix, in the Abestos system_." I elaborated. " _It is very far away_."

" _I can tell, you have an accent_."

" _Hessen is not my first language_." I shrugged.

" _Then what is?_ "

I wasn't expecting this question. My first language was Romany, then English. But, why not have a little fun? " _Uh_ …Gangtsa."

" _Excuse me?_ "

"Gangsta.  _You know_ , 'What up peeps, Richie-G is in the hiz house'?" I spoke straight faced.

" _Very interesting! You must be tired from your travels_."

I gave a curt nod.

" _Come, have some food, we'll talk about the Tamaranian_." Food and everything I wanted to know. This was turning out to be my greatest idea ever.

I took a seat at the table the Captain led me to. A servant placed a plate of food in front of me. I nodded in appreciation.

" _Have a taste! It's a delicacy_."

One bite and I thought I was going to throw up. It was like a combination of Starfire's and Raven's cooking, times ten.

" _You like?_ "

I swallowed harshly. " _We have a dish very similar to this on Nortix. We call it '_ Cat litter'." Despite the awful taste, I had enough clarity to keep my language up.

" _Now, down to business. About the Tamaranian…well, someone else has placed an offer on her_."

It didn't faze me, since I wasn't planning on buying her in the first place, but I feigned indignation. " _What? Who?!_ "

" _Well, actually-_ …" He wasn't able to answer, because the doors on another side of the room slammed open. I swallowed deeply at the familiar face. The only Tamaranian so evil, so cutthroat and vile, that her hair and eyes were black, Blackfire.

" _Ah! Here she is, Lord Mumgon, I'm pleased to introduce you to Komand'r. She actually used to be one of our prisoners, but look at her now! She even successfully became the Grand Ruler of Tamaran, unlike the younger Princess, who ran away_." I set my jaw. Obviously, the second part of that story had not gotten out to the general public.

" _It is a pleasure_." I spoke primly.

Blackfire narrowed her eyes at me. " _Oh, please. The pleasure is mine_." She spoke sarcastically.

" _We are sorry Sir, but the Tamaran you have come for belongs to the Citadel, and Komand'r will be returning her. But, I see you are a man with taste! Please, feel free to look at any of the other species we carry. And of course, enjoy yourself, my friend._ " He left to tend to something else.

" _You look awfully familiar…have we met before?_ " She asked.

I smirked. "Three years ago, you paid us a visit. I specifically remember a dance club we went to. I was comforting your sister, after she had been ridiculed for answering the question, 'Are you diggin' the scene?' with 'I did not know we were supposed to bring shovels.' You came out not much later, wearing her clothes and a ridiculous wig. You asked me what I thought, and I said 'pink' but was actually thinking 'Asian hooker.'"

"Why Robin, it's been too long." She spoke with a vehement tongue. She looked almost exactly like her sister, except her hair and eyes, and her English was significantly better. "What brings you to this rat hole?"

"Oh, you know, just happened to get captured. But a lot can happen in three months," my smirk disappeared, "but you know all about that. Don't you?"

"Oh, come on! You flatter me! This is why I think you and I would have made such a good pair. You understand me, but my sister…she's so incorruptible. Which is why she's being taken back to the Citadel. Of course, they wouldn't have been able to contain her without my help."

"What did you do?"

"Now, why would I tell you that?" She put her hands on her hips. "Look, we both know you don't stand a chance against me. So, I'll be nice and let you continue with this get up," She gestured at my clothes. "Only because you're so cute. Just stay out of my way, okay?"

I raised my eyebrow. "It doesn't sound like you to be a delivery boy."

"My dear little sister is my bail. I give her up to the Citadel, and they stop chasing my butt around the universe. So please, mind your own business. I'll let you talk with her tonight, but I'm taking her tomorrow." She gave a great smile. "Don't make me rip you in two."

I was definitely going to mind my business, and Star was my business. "I'll keep that in mind. Where is she anyways?"

"Over in that room. Careful, she's hysterical." She gave a curt wave and left.

I hurried over to the designated room and locked the door behind me. What I saw shocked me. The room was bare except for a cushion she sat on. Her arms were not bound; there were no chains, no shackles, nothing. She was completely free, the door wasn't even locked! "Star!" I whispered harshly.

In the corner, she sat curled up in a ball. Her knees were pulled to her chest. When I called to her, her head whipped up. Tear marks appeared all over her cheeks.

" _What do you want?_ " She asked in a broken voice.

" _What? Star…It is me, Robin_!"

" _I know. I can tell. But why are you here_?"

" _For you, obviously_!" I exasperated. " _What is wrong_?"

" _You are a traitor. You sold me out to the Gordanians…and because of you…they…they…_ " She grit her teeth and started crying.

" _I did no such thing! Star, you have been tricked! Blackfire going to take you back to Citadel! We leave, I come back for to rescue you_!" In my frantic state, I started tripping over my words. " _Please Star…I would never do that…_ "

" _How can I trust you_?"

" _I came back_." I smiled.

Realization of the situation dawned on her, and she slowly stood up. " _I'll trade you_." She took off my belt and handed it to me. I handed her the massive sword which she strapped to her back. " _They will not get away with this_." She growled.

This was going to be fun.

Star stormed over to the door and kicked it open. " **THAR JIN ZARNARF'T CLORBAG GWHO HAUS SORNA ZUTE**!" I decided not to translate that sentence.

The guards were suddenly very alert and were reaching for their weapons.

" _Stop you fools_!" Blackfire interrupted the chaos. " _I'll take care of her myself_!"

Star raised her glowing hands. " _I dare you to try_!"

Blackfire laughed and ran at her. Star clenched her fist and brought it firmly into her sister's face. The two began a dance, brutal punches being thrown back and forth, punches that a human would never be able to withstand.

Then the taunting began. " _What's wrong little sister? Too distraught, too blinded by anger to lift off the ground? Now you will know how I feel, the only person in the vastness of space who can't feel happiness._ "

" _And for that I pity you, but as of now, you are no sister of mine_!"

" _You say that…but we have the same brother…oh wait…we_ _had_ _the same brother_."

Star let out a horrendous shriek as she lunged at her sister. " **ZABOJCA!** " 'Murderer.' Star's hands gripped her neck and slammed her into the ground, denting the floor and shaking the ship violently. Her fist came down and back over and over, growing redder each time. " _Why must you always ruin my life?!_ " She gripped her shirt and brought her to eye level. " _I will end yours!_ "

" _Star, no killing!_ " I shouted.

She seemed to hear me and dropped her sister's bloody form. " _You are not worth it_."

I heard a 'shing' noise and noticed that the guards were now armed and very very mad. "Um…Star… _Little help?_ "

" _With pleasure_!" She jumped to my side and I withdrew a birdarang.

It was just like old times. Fighting side by side with someone you trusted your life with, there was just way to describe it. I wasn't feeling so homesick now, I just felt…happy. It was strange, most people would be feeling anger or fear, but this was normal to me. This was how I grew up. Of course, it wasn't lizard men I fought, but usually bulky thugs that were much bigger then me. The bigger they were, the harder they fell, and the more fun it was to make them fall. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Enjoying the party guys? I'm having a blast!" I threw a gun powder pellet at the feet of a guard and he jumped when it sparked. I tripped him when he came back down. Another guard came at me, but I side stepped away. He tripped on the guard on the ground. "Watch your step!"

A pair of arms wrapped around my chest and pinned my arms. I swung my head back and with a satisfying crack, I shattered his collar bone. "Make sure to ice that." Two of them came running at me. "You two look tired." I jumped and kicked them in the head with a center split. "Have a nice nap!"

" _Robin! Urgency!_ " Star called. From the opposite door, more guards ran in.

"On it!" I took a hand full of pellets filled with gunpowder, powder sugar, and crushed chlorine tablets. The effect was a smoke and flame screen. Starfire pried the doors to the elevator open, but before she could grab me, I felt something hit my back, but it felt like it bounced off. I looked back briefly to see a bullet on the ground. I felt a slight stinging in my back, but before I could look in to it more, she had grabbed my arm and flew down the shaft.


	9. Let's Leave This Place

I felt her hands on my sides, right above my rib cage. My own gripped her shoulders, not too hard, but just enough to hang on. My feet were mere inches from the floor as we zipped along through hallways. Neither of us knew the way to the exit, so we simply went every direction. My arms were slowly getting tired, and it was a safe bet that hers were too.

We turned down a new hall to hear shouting. " _Look_! _There they go_!"

"Crap." I muttered. In the other direction, a very ticked reptilian came rampaging towards us. "Double Crap…. _Star! Maneuver Twenty Three_!" I commanded.

She nodded and pulled my arms up. I hooked my ankles with her, and she spiraled. We were almost in the clear when Pas Tous Lá knocked us out of the air. I recovered first, coming out to the fall with a somersault. Starfire just fell on her face and rolled a bit. Before she could recover, I had her up in my arms as I sprinted like a mad man.

" _But what about-…?_ "

" _No fight now please_!"

I take pride in my stealth and agility. I was lightweight and it made me ideal for speed. Heck, with the amount of gel I put in my hair, I probably was more aerodynamic. I kicked off my clunky boots mid run, making my steps lighter and quieter. I gripped Star tighter to me as she put her arms around my neck. She was so close, her hair teased my neck and I could hear her heavy intakes of breath among the shouting of the guards.

How romantic.

After passing an unfamiliar entryway, I caught sight of the escape pods. They were unguarded and only a few feet away. We were home free! I found the one that we used earlier and placed Star inside. I fumbled with the key as the guards came closer. She yanked it out of my grip.

I jumped and grabbed the handle of the door. As it was almost closed, a guard gripped the other side and was trying to tug it open.

"Starfire! Get us out of here!"

The pod roared to life as I braced both of my feet on the edges of the door to pull it shut. The pod pulled away from the docking station and the guard let go. I closed the exit and sealed it shut. Angry guards yelled at me outside the window. I smiled at myself.

The craft took off, speeding away from that nightmare ship. I sunk into the seat. We were out, we were safe, and we were on our way home. I let out a relieved laugh. A part of me couldn't believe that we had made it, another part never wanted to move again. I looked over to Starfire who was still, her hands fixed on the analog stick, her shoulders tense.

I reached over and turned on the autopilot; the coordinates she programmed in earlier were still set. " _You relax now_." I smiled at her.

It was if she hadn't even heard me. Her eyes were fixed directly in front of her, her face in a scowl. Her lips were twitching and her hands were shaking.

"Starfire?" I asked softly, resting my hand on hers.

She was startled as she released her grip on the controls. Dents had formed were her hands had been. She looked at the damage she had caused then back up at the windshield. Never once did she glance at me. Fat tears leaked from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"Star!?" I was worried now. This didn't just seem like an expression of relief.

She took in a trembling breath and let out a scream that shook the vessel and cracked the front window. In fear, I grabbed her and pulled her into my chest; muffling her sobs. She threw her arms around me, digging her nails into my back. I didn't mind, she was in so much more pain.

It felt like hours that I held her. Each one of her moans sent vibrations through my metal bones. I didn't know what to do. Comforting had never been my thing, heck I was never good with words in general. I just held her tight and patted her hair. She curled against me, her legs resting on mine and her arms around my waist. My stitches were probably poking her cheek. I could feel her tears on my chest and I felt utterly helpless.

After what seemed like an eternity, her sobs had begun to subside and she looked up at me. Puffy-eyed, tear-stained, and snot-ridden, she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. I reached out and gently wiped her tears away with the cotton gloves on my hands.

" _I'm sorry_..." She choked. " _Thank you_."

First thing was first; I needed to fix this language barrier. I lifted her chin and leaned closer to her. She looked at me in question for only a moment before I closed the distance. The kiss was more tender then the one we had on the ship. I figured it had to do with the fact that I was still trying to comfort her. It was meaningful and I wasn't nervous this time.

We broke apart, but I remained close to her. "Can you understand me now?"

She nodded with, "Mmm-hmm."

"Alright, why don't you tell me what happened back there? What did they say, what did they do to you?" I asked each question softly.

She leaned her forehead against mine, seeking comfort. "It was not what they did to me…they…" Her lip quivered. "He was just a child…" She choked.

My eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"My little brother, Ryand'r…they…" She broke out into a fresh round of sobs. "Oh, Robin! They killed him! I barely even knew him because we had been separated for so long…but he was so young!" She buried her face into my chest. "And it was my entire fault…"

Again, I resigned to hushing her. "Star, do you have any proof that they actually killed him?"

She looked a little insulted. "What?"

"Did they kill him in front of you? Or did they just say that they killed him?"

She looked at our knees. "I took them at their words…the Gordanians are so ruthless, I thought they…" She fell silent. The look on her face was of humiliation and anger.

"Don't beat yourself up, okay? They tricked you, oh well. You were under a lot of stress. But I guarantee you, it was only a trick."

"How can you guarantee it?! You do not know!" She raised her voice.

I rested a hand on her shoulder. "Ryand'r is the crown prince of Tamaran. While I was undercover, I found out that the Gordanians are really big in business. And it seems as though you were really valuable. I would imagine he would be too."

"But should we not go back-…?"

"If your brother is anything like you, he would have taken the opportunity to escape when he could. I think the distraction we caused was helpful to him." I gave a soft smile. "But it's time we went home."

She lowered her head onto my shoulder, a tad acquiescent. "I am a bit sick for my home."

"Three months is a long time to be gone." I rested my head on top of hers.

She looked up at me. "I wonder how our friends have faired without us…"

"I imagine relatively well, Cyborg's been itchin' to take over the leadership position. I don't blame him of course; I just hope he did all the paperwork so I don't have a pile the size of the Himalayas waiting for me."

She chuckled. "I meant, I wondered if they have missed us."

"Oh." I released a nervous laugh. "I don't see why they wouldn't. Mmm, knowing Cy and Beast Boy, they were probably happy for the first few days."

Again she chuckled. "They would have free reign to fight over the tofu and meat, correct?"

"Most likely…until Raven had enough."

"Then she would throw Beast Boy out the window."

"I knew it was a good idea to get the common room facing the bay…"

We both sighed.

"I miss them." She sniffed.

"I do too."

"They are the only true family I have besides Galfore."

I sat up quickly. "Did you want to go see him?"

She gave me a startled look. "Whatever for?"

"Well, I don't know. I thought you might want to go and talk to him about stuff. Your siblings and what not."

"I love my Knorf'ka very much, but there are some things he does not understand. Besides, I would much rather talk to you." She turned a cute shade of pink and pulled me so that she could rest on my shoulder again.

I felt goose bumps form on the back of my neck, but ignored it. "Well, you know you can talk to me about anything."

"As can you to me."

I felt a small pang in my heart as the lessons I had learned with Tuor surfaced in my mind. It was time I told her the truth. I had trusted her with my life for the last few years, now it was time her to trust her everything else. "My brother died last year."

Her head whipped up to look me in the eyes. A hundred emotions crossed her face, horror, confusion, shock, sympathy. But the only thing that came out of her mouth was, "Your brother?"

"Not biological. I was an only child. But when Batman adopted me, he had another girl he was training, named Barbara, or Babs." My face coloured a little as I thought about her. "Not too long after I ran away, Batman found a young man, not much younger then me, stealing the tires off of the Batmobile. Instead of taking him to the police, he brought him home and made him part of the family. I knew him only a little. Jason Todd was his name. Unlike my parents who died in a tragic accident, his parents…left him. He went out one day, only to come home the next to a completely empty house. He was sour, and had a rotten attitude to everyone. Still, he fit with us, and it made sense he was there. I came to really like Jason, as minimally as I saw him through the last couple years. Up at the end, he began to have a very positive outlook on life…well, by then it didn't matter.

"Batman and the new Robin went on a tour of Europe, which Bruce later revealed was not a vacation, but another flight of action. He had been tracking a big wig in the black market business. I was never sure what he was doing; Bruce kind of kept us out of it. Ra's Al Ghul was out to ultimately topple the economy of Europe. He hired a psychopathic serial killer after breaking him out of the asylum. God, I hated that man. Anyway, the Joker crossed their paths in Bosnia. Jason went after him, decidedly leaving Ra's to Batman." I had to stop a moment to breathe. The next part of the story always hurt the most. "Bruce found him the day after in a warehouse. His skull cracked, and a bloody crowbar riddled with Jokers's fingerprints lying next to him."

Star laid a hand upon my own. "And what has become of the Joker and Ra's Al Ghul since then?"

"Joker is confined to an Asylum for life, since he can't get the death sentence because of insanity. Ra's went into hiding somewhere in Tibet. He later sent Bruce a letter, announcing his retirement and his deep grievances for Jason's death. He disclosed a check to reimburse him for the funeral." I sighed. "Bruce hasn't been the same since then. He's been…colder. Harsher. He blames himself entirely, for everything."

"Why did you tell me all of this?"

Starfire was smart; she knew all of my stories had a reason. "I understand the pain you feel for your brother. It may not be exactly the same, but I know you're worried about him." I wrapped an arm around her. "So I'll be here to ease the burden."

"I appreciate it much." She snuggled closer to me. "Robin?"

"Hmm?"

"You spoke of the Joker as if you encountered him multiple times."

"Oh, I did. And he ended up in the asylum multiple times in a full body cast. See, not only did he kill Jason, he shot me in the shoulder, paralyzed Batgirl, and kidnapped Alfred. No one messes with Alfred."

"Who is Alfred?"

"My mom." I spoke casually before catching my blunder.

"So…Bruce is your father…and Alfred is your mother…does that mean…?"

"NO! Oh God no! I meant he has the mom role! He did the cooking and cleaning, and his scones…oh his scones…anyways, Alfred is Bruce's butler."

"Oh! That makes much more sense! I have met Batman on a few occasions, and he never struck me to be the 'homosexual'."

"Hard to think of him that way…"

"Thank you for telling me about your past. I know you have had a hard life, as I have, and do not wish to share everything, but I am glad you did."

"Well, I hope you won't regret saying that."

"Why would I regret it?"

I grinned at her. "It's a long drive home."

I started with the beginning. The very beginning. I told her of my home and all off the places I've been. I described my parents, what it was like growing up in a circus. I told every detail from their tragic death to first fights I had with Batman. She hung onto every word. Sometimes she cried, sometimes she laughed, and sometimes she clenched the fabric of my jacket, listening in anticipation. One thing was sure and constant; I shared her emotions. Never before had I felt so connected with her. Maybe it was because this was the first time in a long time I got away from work, criminals, and every other distraction in the book. Or maybe I just understood her now; I could fathom how strange it had to be for her.

Maybe I even loved her more because of it.

"Robin, I really hate to do the interrupting of you, but there is something which is bothering me."

"What is it?"

She looked hesitant. "It is…well…the lip contact."

"Oh." I gulped. "What…about it exactly?"

"Well, I am sorry if this startles you…but I was thinking…I decided I did not like it."

Ouch, her bluntness! It stings! "Oh…I see…I understand though…"

She rested a hand against my chest. "I did not like that we had lip contact to achieve the goal of language assimilation. I would much rather do the 'kissing', but I am having a difficult time figuring out an excuse to get you to do so."

Well, shoot! I cleared my throat. "Well, on Earth, there are many reasons people kiss."

"And what would those reasons be?"

"Um…" I raked my brain. "Kissing removes stress; we've endured a very stressful situation and could use a positive attitude boost. It'll give you an adrenaline rush, which counters hydrocortisone, a hormone that's produced when we're stressed."

"Interesting, but not quite good enough."

"It fights tooth decay."

"Lame. Try again."

"It burns calories."

"I am skinny enough!"

"Tones facial features?"

"Benefit, not a reason."

"It boosts your morale and self-esteem."

"I can believe that."

"I could trick you. Say, 'There's a weird bird over there,' and you'll turn to look and I'll move in close and then when you turn around, you'll run into my lips. I'll respond with 'I guess it was a woodPECKer.'"

She pushed me. "That is buttery."

"Buttery? You mean cheesy?"

"Yes." She tilted her head. "I am still not hearing any sufficient reasons."

"How about kiss for the sake of a kiss?"

"No, not special."

I became smug. "Or we could practice."

She shook her head with a pout.

"Got any good news?"

"Not any worth kissing over."

"I'm a guy and you're a girl."

"With that logic, we would be married by now."

"How about a smooch as thanks for comforting you earlier?"

"Too long passed."

"How about I kiss you as thanks for listening to my life story?"

"Maybe on the cheek."

"An early goodbye kiss?"

"I never wish to say goodbye."

I drew closer. "Because the day ends with a 'Y'."

"Come now Robin, there has to be a better excuse."

"Because we both secretly wish to be more then friends?"

She smiled and breathed a little sigh, which I felt on my face. "I believe we are getting closer."

My breath was a little shaky. "Do you mean physically, too?"

Her nose tapped mine. "You are running out of time, boy blunder."

"Well…There's only one other excuse I got, but I don't know how adequate it is."

Her eyes looked a little sad. "It is worth a try, yes?"

I gave a soft smile. "I think we should kiss…because not only do I consider you my best friend, but as the most important person in the world to me. Because you turn me into a stuttering moron, and you're the only one who can do that. Because I trust you with my life, my soul, my heart. And most importantly, we should kiss because I hold so much care and affection for you, sometimes I wonder if you can see it pouring out of me. Koriand'r…I love you." I let my lips brush against hers. "And, no, that's my excuse. You have to get your own." With that, I erased the space between us.

Finally, no pressure, no life threatening situations, no alternate reasons, just a kiss. A tender and passionate one for that matter. What can I say? I was making up for lost time. Her fingers were in my hair, on my neck, my face, my chest, everywhere; making fluttering touches. A small part of me worried that I was going too far. Maybe she didn't feel exactly the same way, maybe she just liked me. Heaven forbid she was only lusting after me. I swallowed and pulled away, suddenly very nervous and self-conscious.

All that vanished when she smiled at me. "You are so very adorable when you blush." She smirked.

Now she was just teasing me. "Um…"

"Yes, it is time for my excuse. But yours is very good, so I think I shall steal it." She snaked her arms around my neck. "I love you too, Robin."

This time she kissed me, and boy, now that our feelings were out in the open, she just went for it! I didn't even know she knew how to kiss, since Tamaranians didn't practice such things. I blamed the chick flicks she forced Raven to watch with her.

My arms locked around her waist to keep her close to me. Even when we parted, she still stayed close, only shifting slightly so her head rested on my shoulder. I held her tightly, my heart thumping deeply in my chest. I felt pain, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was the feeling of not having to bottle things up anymore.

"Robin…"

She must have heard my shaky sigh. "Star, you were with me the whole time…but I missed you so much. Your anger and sadness…it was so overwhelming. I missed your smile and your tenderness…"

"Robin. You are bleeding."

My eyes shot open. "What? How!? Where!?"

"Turn around and take off your jacket." I did as I was told and felt her hands examining my back. "Yes, you have a wound back here, it is not very deep, and is not bleeding so bad as it looks like it had previously. What did you do?"

I thought a moment. "I think I got shot."

"As in, with a gun?! But how do you not hurt!?"

"I felt it when it first happened, but I think the bullet bounced off."

She stared at me. "How?"

"I think it had to do with my new ribs."

"That is most extraordinary!"

"Could you cauterize it to keep it from bleeding?"

"I thought you said you wouldn't ask me to do that again."

"Yeah, I know. But we have nothing else to wrap it with. And it's not that bad, I promise it's okay."

"Oh fine! But I better not hear a sound from you!" I heard the sound of her hand igniting.

"You can slap me if I do."

"I shall indeed!"

The feeling of heat on my back increased until I felt her fingers surrounded by flames. This was the second time she and cauterized one of my wounds, the first was a huge scratch across my chest. I screamed the whole time and she made me promise I would never make her do it again. So this time, I made it easy on her by biting my lip and clenching my fists. I stayed absolutely silent.

"The deed is complete." She said solemnly.

I turned and smiled at her. "There, that wasn't so bad was it?"

She slapped me.

"What was that for!?"

"You promised I'd never had to do that again!"

"Would you have rather used the medical thread I had in my belt?"

She sighed, "no."

"Then let's forget about it, come here." I put an arm around her.

"I wish to be merry and joyful. Can we engage in the 'kissing' again?"

"Well, I don't know if that-mmm!" A yet again, she was wrapped around me like a vine, her lips firmly against mine. The only reason I protested was because we were two rather hormonal teenagers alone in a space ship. But hey, I had great self-control.

Yeah, about as much self-control as Charlie Sheen.

I pulled away from her carefully. "You really like kissing, don't you?"

"I do indeed! It is most wonderful and fantastic! I have seen it in the movies and how in human culture it is so important, but I never knew how fantastic it could be! It…It is like a whole new world!"

"Shining, shimmering, splendid?"

She looked at me in awe.

"Tell me princess, now when did you last let your heart decide? I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder. Over sideways and under, on a magic carpet ride."

"You are speaking of the 'making out' correct."

Well, I'll be damned. I try to be romantic and the moment just flies out the window! "Umm…" I blushed.

"Your face is turning red again!" She giggled.

Darn her ignorance to culture. "No…Look, I don't mind kissing you. Trust me, I really like it, but I think we should take this things slow…besides this isn't really the best place to do that kind of…stuff." I gave a weak smile and hoped she understood.

"I do not know much about affairs of Earthen romance. But if that is what you say, I will trust you." She smiled. Then she got a tremendous smile across her face and grabbed my shoulders, startling me. "Does this mean we are the girlfriend and boyfriend? And not just the friend who is a girl and the friend who is a boy, but the 'couple' that buys floral arrangements and sugary confections to express affection for each other?"

"Yeah, I guess. Nice summary."

She squealed and tackled me. "Would it be petty to say I have been waiting for this?"

"No, I waited a long time too…"

"Then why did you not act on it sooner?!" She hit me.

"Ow! Because I'm a coward!"

"That you are!"

"And you're beautiful." I smiled as I tucked some hair behind her ear.

"And you are stupid."

"And you're amazing in every sense of the word."

"And you smell like boy."

"Sorry, haven't taken a shower in three months." I laughed.

"Despite all these flaws, some how, I still managed to fall in love with you."

"You forgot stubborn, massive workaholic, and mentally unstable."

"Those I am willing to overlook."

I began to feel lightheaded. "and I thank you for doing so."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…Why do you ask?"

"Your skin is pale."

"My skin…is always pale."

"No, it is abnormally pale…you have dark circles around your eyes and your breathing is strange."

"I'm just feeling…a little light headed." I took another shaky breath and heard some crackling noises. "Star…how long do you think we've been in here?"

"I would venture to say about six hours."

"And…how much oxygen…do you think this pod holds?"

Her eyes went wide. "Not enough to get us home. I surmise we still have a few hours left."

I swallowed. "When you do breathe, what do you inhale and exhale?"

"I breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen."

"Starfire, Please…I need you to take…long deep breaths."

She started hyperventilating. "I shall not let you die!"

I chuckled. "I'm not going to die. You just need to keep breathing at a constant rate, nice deep breaths. And, I'm going to warn you…I may pass out…but just keep breathing and…I'll…be…whoa…"

"Robin!"

Bruce was right when he said you can only last so long without oxygen. Poor Starfire must have been scared out of her mind.

When I came to, I was laying on a mattress. Something was covering my face, and my hand was cramping up. I opened my eyes to look around. I was home, in the medical bay of our building. I glanced over to my hand to see it in the firm grip of a disheveled Tamaranian. Her eyes were closed, and tears were still running down her cheek. My heart clenched.

I wriggled my fingers.

Her emerald eyes shot open and she began to float out of her chair.

"Told you I wasn't going to die." I smiled.

She screamed and tackled me. I discovered the thing on my face was an oxygen mask, which I kept securely on, unsure if I could breathe on my own yet.

Star's scream alerted the other inhabitants of the building that I was awake and soon, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven came bounding into the room.

"Dude! Where the heck have you guys been?!" Beast Boy asked first.

I looked at Starfire. "You didn't tell them?"

She shook her head.

Cyborg jumped in. "Man, she didn't say anything! Scared the crap out of me hearing the doorbell ring in the middle of the night! I answer the door and there she is, holding you like you were  _dead_. All she said was 'he requires medical attention' and ghosted into the room." He shivered. "After I got you hooked up, I tried to get stuff out of her but she wouldn't say anything!"

"Now, you're awake. What happened?" Raven asked in her usual monotone.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Beast Boy interrupted me. "And you were the one who said we weren't allowed to take vacations! I bet you two eloped to Vegas."

"Elope?" Starfire asked with a tilt of the head.

"It means to get married in secret."

"Oh," She smiled at the team. "Do not worry. When we decide to get married, you shall be the first to know."

'When' she says, not 'if'. "We were abducted by aliens." I explained.

The three looked at each other and then burst into laughter. "Aliens?! That's seriously the best excuse you can come up with?!"

"Gordanians to be exact." Star piped in.

"Wait…you're serious? The Gord-heads from when we all first met?"

"Yes, precisely."

"Oh."

" _Don't worry, darling. They're too dense to believe such things_." I spoke loud and clear.

" _Oh, I am quite aware of that, my love_." She laughed.

"Dude…Since when do you speak alien?!"

"Hessen, my fine fellow. I can speak Tamaranian too."

"A lot of things happened in these past three months." Starfire smiled.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Like what kinds of things?"

I shrugged while Star put her arms around my neck and kissed my forehead.

"Dude! Not fair! How did you get a girlfriend before me? I am  _so_  better looking then you are!" Beast Boy flailed his arms.

"Says the boy named Garfield."

"Oh yeah? 'Hey I'm Raven Roth, and my name's alliteration!'"

Cyborg pushed passed the bickering teens. "You two have been gone a long time. Want something to eat 'fore I tell y'all whatcha missed?"

"Mustard." Star said firmly.

"You know what I want? I really want a double cheeseburger with fries and a large Dr. Pepper."

"On it. You two just hang tight." He turned to BB and Raven who were still fighting. "Okay you love birds, we're making a food run."

"We are not love birds!"

"You were just complaining about not having a girl friend…"

After the team had left, Starfire climbed up on the bed and snuggled into my side. "Can you believe it Robin? We are home!"

"Yeah," I smiled. "Home sweet home."

I don't consider myself an emotional person, but that cheeseburger was just so beautiful, I blubbered like a baby.

Oh, so you want to know what happened after all this? Well, Star and I can't even sit next to each other on the couch without a jibe from tweedledee or tweedledum AKA Victor Stone and Garfield Logan. I can't get a kiss goodnight without Raven coming out of nowhere saying 'keep it PG you two.' It's frustrating, really.

At night, when it's clear, we go up to the roof and look at the stars, reminiscing of our adventure.

About a month later, we were all sitting in the common room. Raven read, Beast Boy and Cyborg battled it out on Mega Monkeys 4, and Star and I watched content. Something zipped passed the front window and we all stopped and stared. The object backtracked and looked in the window. It just barely registered who I was seeing before Starfire had whizzed from the spot next to me to the window, frantically trying to open it.

" **Brotch'm!** "

'Brother.'


End file.
